A Perfectly Perfect Plan

In Keya’s early life, she was raised in a Catholic church-attending household, by a beloved Muslim father and a culturally-Catholic mother. Though her father insisted they go to Catholic Church every Sunday where they were welcomed by a kind priest, Keya never felt like she received much from her experience in the church. It felt like a mindless dance that repeated each week with no study in the bible (she had never opened a bible until her late 20s). Even as a child, her belief never grew through her adolescence, youth, and young adult life, and she considered herself an Agnostic or Atheist.

“I had met many ‘Christians’ in my life that were judgmental and hateful and so I didn’t care about God. I decided that I was a better person than all the ‘Christians’ I had grown up with which fueled my independence that all things were accomplished through myself, by myself, with no one else to trust in completely but myself.”

But life was hard, lonely, and riddled with accomplishments and failures that never seemed to correlate with how hard she worked towards being a ‘good and successful’ person.

Though unknown at the time, God had a great rescue plan for Keya.

He placed Kyle and Gracie Bingham in her path through Ultimate Frisbee, where they soon became close friends through the simplicity of enjoying meals together frequently. It was the first time Keya felt like she was part of a family. And the Binghams were different. They were Christians, but why were they not judgmental? Why were they kind and generous and trustworthy for no other reason besides ‘Jesus’?

“I met these Christians who represented Jesus as loving, kind, just, and welcoming. They showed God's loved to me without guilting me or preaching at me."

But God knew that Keya was still full of pride and doubt. His great rescue plan continued.

Keya’s life became really hard for a couple years:

• A heartbreaking relationship ended full of pain and distrust.

• A torn ACL right before Ultimate Frisbee Nationals.

• Working a job with no satisfaction and full of self-pity.

• Fired from the next job.

• …Fired from the NEXT job…

• And finally, a ‘Christian’ woman told Keya she wasn’t good enough to date her son because she wasn’t a Christian.

“Fine, I will learn this book called the Bible, and I will use it to defend myself against these ‘Christians’. I will know it better than them and prove that they are wrong.”

So Keya went to church one day with the Binghams. She filled out the card in the back of the seat and just wrote, “I want to learn more about the bible”, and she dropped it in the box and didn’t think anything would come of it.

But Colleen Searcy reached out and told her that Church at the Cross was starting a Women’s Bible Study (Matthew Chapters 1-7) in the spring. And Keya considered it. Then, while working together one evening at the Bingham winery, Casey Schutza encouraged her to join the bible study and even offered to pay for it. And Keya considered it. Then Gracie Bingham was no longer able to attend the Bible study and passed on her spot to Keya. And Keya accepted it.

Keya attended the Women’s Bible study and met Amanda Stevens who was leading the group. The first evening, Keya told Amanda that she was only there to learn the bible to ‘defend’ herself against these judgmental ‘Christians’. Instead of being insulted, Amanda said, “That’s so wonderful! We need people to defend the bible and correct what is not true.” That seemed so odd to Keya.

Through the Bible study, Keya met a small group of women that were loving, kind, and patient. They were nothing like she expected. Colleen’s lectures were built on logic, intelligence, historical references, and complete cohesiveness within the Bible stories instead of being based on feelings.

Keya fell in love with Jesus through these seven chapters of Matthew. She was amazed by the intentional detail and historical accuracy, it made sense, and truth was hidden so beautifully all through the text. Jesus was perfectly perfect.

When the Holy Spirit opened her heart, she was scared. Keya didn’t know what this meant at first.

Four seasons of Women’s Bible Study later, attending weekly Sunday morning gatherings throughout the next year, joining a wonderful Life Group, enjoying fellowship with the Binghams and Gardners, attending the first season of Alpha, and continuous encouragement from her friend and mentor, Amanda Stevens, Keya was publicly baptized in December of 2020 and is now a Covenant Member of Church at the Cross.

God had a great rescue plan for Keya. He used the “loving, kind, just, and welcoming” Christians and the “logical, intelligent, historical, and complete cohesiveness” of his perfectly perfect Word to bring Keya into his family.