Jon Jerabek

I am a person who has always had compassion for other people. Seeing people who are different from myself, and watching them do things, has long been a fascination to me. Having grown up in Minnesota, and currently residing in Colorado, you may wonder how I came to be involved with the Bearing Together Project. A few years ago, when I was receiving ministry training in Texas, I met and got involved in the life of a classmate who is one of these special people. Realizing how much greater his needs were than my own, while still living my own life as a husband, father, friend and student, is key to understanding caregiving. Seeing him succeed while in a state so different than my own, started my mind on the journey of understanding, which continues into the Project.

My life has gone from growing up in central Minnesota, and becoming a husband and father of four wonderful children, to being a minister of the church of Christ in Creede, Colorado. Carpentry, machining, cabinetry, maintenance, and handyman skills have all been a part of my career life beyond the church. I have always enjoyed the outdoors, and a wide variety of activities in the places that God made for us to enjoy. 

I have grown into someone who lives Christ. Simply identifying and onlooking are no longer enough. Getting involved, participating, and taking an active servants role, are now the ways and means of my life. Using the compassion, kindness, serving, caring, hospitality, mercy, and love exampled to all of us by the son of God in the Bible, is the template by which I plan to carry out the remainder of my days.