How 'Millennial Orphan' Levi Shepherd Went From Being a Homeless Gangbanger to Disciple of Jesus (Interview)
CP: Why do you believe God is always pursuing us?
Shepherd: Well, to put it bluntly I have lived it and become proof. I can tell you it was not me who has gotten me through to today. I may be super stubborn yes… but that is not enough to endure all I have and still have the audacity to hope. Then there is the fact that, let's face it, even in our times of devout piousness we still fall short of the glory of God. It has to be God who is the relentless pursuer in this relationship because it can't, isn't, and will never be us. That goes for everyone, from the drug addict down at the homeless shelter, to the Pope and Billy Graham. Good thing God isn't a quitter or we would be doomed to truly reap what we sow.
CP: Some believe that they can't come to God because they are too broken or not good enough. By your experience what have you learned to be true?
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Shepherd: Honestly I have learned not to listen to the naysayers or our own egos. And I can vouch that we seem to have it all wrong more often than not. I sometimes lay awake at night and go "Whoa, how am still alive? Let alone where I am today." My past seems like some sort of a hellish nightmare that I awoke from, but that's just it about grace, it can do what shouldn't be done. For real I mean this humbly, look at my life, look what I have come out of? That wasn't me, yhat was HIM! If He can do it for me, He will do it for you.
CP: What does "God is love" mean to you?
Shepherd: Do you want the by-the-book answer or the answer that comes from a journey of the heart? (chuckles) Seriously though, I am still figuring this out and I am going on 12 years as a disciple. But I can share what I have learned through experience and to be very vulnerable, someday I just hurt. I hurt emotionally, I feel scared, I feel alone, I feel like I am a project that was all in vain, and I just want to go home to heaven. Yet everyday, I find a comfort that can't be written off by something of/from this earth. I find a heavenly comfort that all is still being made right, and though I see in part now, one day I will see in full the love that has redeemed my soul. It's God, as always, working behind the scenes. That to me is love, that my creator would love on me and let me know that I am not alone, that I am not a failed project, and that my pain is only temporal. I will end with a verse that has meant so much to me: "Come, taste and see that I am Good," – an invitation to come to God and be touched in a way that will leave us wanting more, to experience with our human senses the glory of God. The Great I Am is a phenomenal host whose home is one that you are never going to want to leave. That's just it, knowing that God is love is an abiding journey that you go on every day.
CP: You've had a crazy past but God has greater things for you. What are you hoping to accomplish in the future?
Shepherd: Hands down, to have a family of my own and someday have my path unite with a woman who has been touched by God the same way I have, to a have communion with her soul and to start over my family with her. I hope she is a grace-filled woman because if our children get my DNA they are going to be stuuuuuubooorn! Other than that I am not the type that is big on accomplishments. I feel like I have lived several lifetimes in 32 years, and I just try to wake up every day and be ready for whatever. To love those whose path crosses mine with the love I have been given from above and to make God proud, and to one day when I take my last breath, walk up to Jesus and have the both of us smiling and laughing, like old friends who are just blessed to have made it this far. I think that will all be really legit.
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