Happy Sunday, everybody. Happy Sunday. For those of you who do not know who I am, my name is Robert Marshall. My dad is Jim Marshall and my mom is JR Marshall. I am a lifelong member of St. John's, but I'm going to Auburn in the fall to study architecture. I remember running around the parish hall calling Robert Wisnewski Bad Robert because I was Good Robert. I remember hiding in the room above the kitchen, or I remember hiding in the room above the kitchen to skip the 10:30 service. I remember coming to EYC when my mom and dad were both youth advisors. I must've been at least three or four. And I remember going to Holy Cross up until the fourth grade. One year my, my face got put on one of the billboards for Holy Cross, and then I came to church that Sunday, and then all of the older kids and adults asked for my autograph, so I had to give it to them. Anyway, I've been at St. John's for my entire life, and I've been able to call it a home my entire life. It is where I took my first steps into my faith, and I will always be grateful for that. St. John's has opened the door for many opportunities for me, and I will always be grateful for those opportunities. Those opportunities have led me and, and made me into the person I am today, and that person is someone I could have never imagined being a few years ago. So when Duncan sent me the email asking if I would give the youth sermon, Youth Sunday sermon, I said yes. Duncan gave me four passages to choose from, so I chose John fourteen, verses one through fourteen. This verse comes from the second half of the Gospel of John. During the Last Supper, in this specific conversation, Jesus comforts his disciples because they are troubled by the knowledge that he will be betrayed and crucified in the coming hours. The disciples are all freaking out because they have no idea what's going on or what their future holds. Then Jesus responds and says, "Whoever believes in me will do the works that I've been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father." All Jesus is asking for in this passage is belief, and in exchange, He is offering the world. He is offering a room in His Father's house. The reason I picked this verse, verse, because, was because of that very meaning, because of what Jesus was asking for. Jesus wants, Je-- all Jesus wants is belief, and in exchange, He will give you the world. In the past few months of my life, I've been struggling with just that, belief. And I know a lot of people in this room have had hard times in their life where belief doesn't seem so easy, and I can confidently say I know that feeling too. Just last year, my belief in Christ was at the strong-- was the strongest it has ever been. I was genuinely impacting people's faith through some, through some of the youth events held in this diocese. For instance, I was the lay director at the eighty-seventh Happening of Alabama, which was held here in this church. Leading this event took a lot out of me, both physically and spiritually. I had to be confident, energetic, and comfortable in my faith, which is something that I've had very little practice in throughout my life. I was in charge of the weekend that had the goal of bringing people closer to God and closer to Jesus. This meant that I had to play songs and bring people closer with God. I had to play songs, sing for the youth, and lead Compline and lead the youth. And at the very end of the weekend, I had to get up into this pulpit and deliver the closing sermon for the weekend. And that sermon was supposed to depict how much that weekend meant to me, and I didn't deliver. I was so caught up with how the youth were doing that I could not deliver the message that depicted how much the experience and the weekend meant to me. Then right after Happening the youth department's event started up. We did three youth events that called me to sing songs throughout the weekend and design worship services. Again, this called me to lead in my faith, and it took a lot out of me, thus making my belief falter even more. I would read my book of common prayer trying to find what to use for the service or base the service off of. I made devotionals and tried my best to make them as applicable to the different programs as I could. In 2024, I barely understood what my faith meant to me. Then in 2025, I'd become a s-savant that could inspire other youth. I tried my hardest to become a light for those around me. Needless to say, I fell short of my expectations for myself, thus my belief took a hit. I had an idea of what God wanted me to do, and I fell short. I didn't deliver the best closing sermon I could during Happening, and my light faltered during the following youth department events. Much like Jesus' disciples in John fourteen, my belief wavered. I knew God, and still my belief and faith wavered. I started noticing that I prayed left-- less often, and eventually, I thought about God less often. Somehow, along the way, my faith began to dwindle. The process of writing this sermon has helped me. I've had to actively think about and get closer with God in order to feel worthy of being up here. I've ha- I've had to think about all the highs and lows of the rollercoaster that is my faith, and I've had to try and grow in my connection with God. There have been times in my life where I've been alone with God, and there have been times in my life where I've been alone, just been alone. I've doubted myself as much as anyone in this room, and probably dislike myself just a little bit more. And somehow, some way, God always, always sends people into my life to straighten me out. Amen. When I think back on my faith and the times that I'm closest with God, it is when I'm inspired by those around me and myself. So please go out and inspire others, share your belief, and make it known that God has plenty of room in this house. I'm gonna be completely honest. I wouldn't be up here right now talking to you if I didn't have those people that straightened me out, if I didn't have friends that held me accountable. This, this whole faith journey that I've had and all the leadership opportunities that I've had in our diocese all started with one deep talk with my friend in Lake Tuscaloosa. We were sitting on the dock just, just talking, talking about what we wanted in our lives 'cause he was about to go to college, and that's when I discovered that I wanted to be closer with God, and I wanted to pursue God. So he got in the back of his truck, and he gave me a Bible. That Bible was the first Bible I journaled from. It was the first Bible I marked up, and it's the first time I've actually tried to read the Bible. So share your belief, share your faith, because people may think God is very, very far from them when he really isn't. If you believe, he will be there. If you do not believe, he will be there. He's there whether you like it or not. You just have to look for him. Happy Sunday.