iTune Into Him

So this past weekend I had the opportunity to spend my last high school retreat ever with my Youth Group with the theme being Music. As the weekend progressed, it slowly came to my attention that "This is it. This is seriously my Senior Year. This is my last retreat for awhile." Coming into the retreat, I promised myself that I would make an impact on the Youth Group so that the next generation of students in the church would become leaders themselves and take care of the Youth Group in our place.

It's just crazy to think that I went on almost all the retreats from my Freshman Year until now and how much has changed and how many people are gone now. However, throughout the retreat experience, I did grow in my faith and grew closer to some new and old friends. Especially at night, I had really deep conversations with friends.

Many told me that I've done an awesome job so far at changing the world and that I've treated everyone with equal respect. Despite not even knowing some of these people personally, it was truly touching to know that I was making an impact on people even without directly talking to them. Not only that, a new friend I made told me, "I can't believe this is your last retreat. I just met you and you're seriously an awesome guy. You have to come down when you're on break at college." It seriously just hit home because all these people were expressing to me how much I was making a difference in their lives through my faith and through my anti-bullying movement. For me, I kinda just shook off the complements because honestly I felt like I haven't done enough. I know I can do better and I know can contribute more to this world. But in the end, I do appreciate all the support and kind words from everyone. It's good to know that I'm doing something right and that I'm making an impact on all these people's lives.

When I'm in college looking back at all my time spent at church, it's going to be great to know that I had such a supportive community that was always there for me when I wasn't always there for them. I'm never going to forget all the laughs, friends, and memories made.

My faith has made me who I am and I will live my faith out loud as I prepare to enter a new chapter of my life with God.