Peter loves our son, Ben, consistently as Christ loves. Because of their relationship, Ben is learning to love in the same way. Ben demonstrates his understanding of Christ’s love by how he’s learning to live and love others. And Peter has been a wonderful example of Christ’s love in Ben’s life. – Kelly Alvey
There’s no doubt that Ben Alvey knows more about Christ because of Peter Dean. Peter has been serving Ben for more than six years through Watermark’s Kaleidoscope ministry, which offers one-on-one care on Sunday mornings for children with special needs. While Peter and Ben’s relationship began on Sunday mornings several years ago, it now spills over into many areas of their lives. Peter genuinely cares for Ben and is actively engaged in his life. While the Lord has used many tools to teach and grow Peter in his faith, his servant relationship with Ben has been instrumental in his own walk with Christ. And the relationship with Christ that Ben is discovering as an 10-year-old boy is something that was missing from Peter’s life for many years.
Growing up in church, there was always a disconnect between the complacent religiosity Peter was exposed to early in life and the hunger in his heart for a deeper connection with God. “I had been to church and done some singing, but I had never really worshiped. I heard Scripture, but never committed to reading the Bible for myself. I had prayed privately, but never had the boldness to pray out loud in front of others. I grew up in church, but somehow, I never understood what a relationship with Christ was all about.”
Peter says he didn’t live in freedom as long as he settled for a life of religious nonchalance and living by his own power. Even though he didn’t fully understand it at the time, Peter thirsted for Christ’s hope and freedom until he submitted to fully walking with the Lord. He was moved in a way he’d never been before when he heard more about a personal relationship with Christ. Remembering his first visits to Watermark in the fall of 2004, Peter says he “left the services in tears, because I was so moved by truly experiencing the spirit of Christ. And as I began learning and growing in a relationship with Him, I began to change.”
As a kid, simply showing up at church and expecting something profound to occur in his heart left Peter feeling spiritually timid and powerless. Since the Lord showed Peter how to approach Him boldly and personally, he now lives with hope and strength. Peter says his faith had been transformed from religious practice into personal relationship. Peter says one of the most profound ways that God has worked in his life is by giving him his wife, Alicia, who he married in 2006. Through Alicia, the Lord has shown Peter how to love like Christ does: unconditionally. For Peter, God has used his relationship with his wife to grow him from crawling to standing upright and walking.
“Alicia has been an encourager and supported me in my walk and as a man. I can see the Lord’s love through the ways that she loves me unconditionally, as Christ loves. And without her relationship with Christ, she couldn’t love me like that.”
Soon after they married, Peter and Alicia joined a foundation group to help them develop the groundwork for their first years of marriage. Peter now leads a community group with his wife. Being in community with other followers of Christ is another way that the Lord has shown Peter how He loves. Being authentically transparent with his community group has taught Peter how Christ covers all sins and can give him the strength to overcome anything.
Because his community group has cared for him the way Christ does, Peter knows what it means to be unconditionally accepted, encouraged and loved. Now that Peter has a solid foundation in Christ, he’s being used by the Lord to serve others. Serving with Kaleidoscope has allowed Peter to see a new side of both the church and the Lord.
Before, Peter had only seen the message of Christ offered to adults in a Sunday service. Now, he is blessed by being part of sharing Christ’s truth with children. God’s faithfulness and love expressed in Ben’s life are echoed back into Peter’s heart. The blessings in serving in Kaleidoscope have touched Peter as much as the kids he serves there. The kids learn who Jesus is by being loved, but Peter also has gained a deeper understanding of Christ’s love. “I have been so encouraged by what I see God doing in Ben,” says Peter. “I have seen Christ’s work in Ben’s life – it is real. As I see God’s hand at work, I wonder what else God will do in the lives of the other kids at Watermark. It makes me so grateful that God showed me who I am in Christ and gave me the opportunity to live and serve others through the grace that He provided.” – written by Bethany McDaniel
