Be Yourself

Being ourselves around other people is a very difficult thing to do. We feel we need to do things that wouldn’t offend anyone else, especially when in public.

Sometimes we make it a necessity to be a “people-pleaser”.

“I did some research,” as Clay says, and looked up the definition of a people-pleaser and came up with this:

“People pleasers let high expectations, resentment, and saying ‘yes’ when they mean ‘no’ run (and potentially ruin) their social lives. They are set on being perfect and nice.”

I was once a people pleaser until about 2 years ago when I decided I wasn’t going to care what people thought about what I did around them, especially when in public where obviously not everyone is a Christian.

Recently at the beach, which is really a lake a block from my house, I was writing “graffiti” in the sand, consisting of Bible verses, and Straight Edge (a drug & alcohol free lifestyle I live) sayings.

One thing I wrote was a mixture of both and said this:

“God’s for winners, drugs are for losers.” – A somewhat harsh statement in some people’s eyes that could definitely offend someone.

As I finished up writing I realized a man in around his mid-30s was watching me.

I was listening to music through my headphones and heard him in the background say “what are you writing?”

I told him and he showed the most excitement I’ve seen someone show in a while – it was even more touching to me because he sure didn’t seem like the type of guy to go around starting conversations with people.

He gave me a high-five, asked where my parents were and when I told him they weren’t there he said he wanted to congratulate them. He then called his daughter over to show her, and then went over to tell his wife whom was ironically enough smoking.

Later, I walked home to grab my Bible and my laptop to write what you’re reading now.

As I walked across the sand back to my towel, one of the friends he was with asked “is that him?” and the man whom had talked to me earlier said “yeah, he’s amazing.”

As I humbly continued onward to my spot, pretending I didn’t hear them, a smile understandingly came across my face.

Me being myself at the beach, just showing boredom really and writing in the sand fascinated and touched this man, a man I’d never even met before.

It just shows how being you doesn’t always offend people, but enlightens them, which, at least to me, is the best feeling in the world.

A man name Bartimaeus (I’m going to call him Bart) is mentioned in Mark chapter 10.

Bart was blind, but he knew Jesus could make him see again. He sat on the side of the road begging. When Jesus came by, Bart called out to Him. Despite people telling him to be quiet, Bart continued what he had been doing, being himself, and kept calling. He knew what he needed to do for himself. He needed Jesus, and no one could stop him. He knew Jesus could change his whole life for the best, and of course, He did.

If Bart hadn’t have been himself and had been quiet when the people told him to, Jesus may have never heard him, and may have walked on by him.

In this case, Bart showed that being yourself can not only help others, but help you too.

That’s the entire point of this message, being yourself, showing Christ no matter where you are, and eventually, Jesus will pay you back for it, whether it be in a way like me, and telling you that you can inspire other people, or it be like Bart, and be in a way that helps you personally.

Being ourselves is not only hard like I said earlier, but it’s one of the most important things in life.

Trying to be someone we’re not will not only hurt us and confuse other people, but it fails to please God – and that isn’t one of the most important thing in our lives – it’s the single most important thing in and for our lives.

Mark 10:45 says “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

If you didn’t already know, “The Son of Man” is Jesus, it’s a name exclusively used by Jesus for Himself, none of the disciples called him by it.

Anyways, this exemplifies exactly how we should live.

For my final thoughts for today, I ask you to do this; don’t live to be served, but to serve – to serve the One True King, Jesus, and return the favor.

Citizenship of a Best Friend

Could the picture above be a glimpse of Big G & I in 20 years?

I could see it.

When I met Galen Reed, I just knew him as the brother of Karen Snyder, and had never even seen him before until our trip with the youth group to Kingsfest at Kings Dominion last year.

On the trip, I still had little contact with him and didn’t see him much (I didn’t see much of anyone, even if I was with them).

I have no idea when it was or how it happened, but it was just all of a sudden, we clicked, and were almost immediately the best of friends.

At church camp a few weeks ago, the friendship grew stronger within the presence of God (if you read “At Camp, God’s The Champ, and Friendships Are Just As Real As He Is” you know this story).

However, there is a deeper side to that story, my rapper nickname became Collin “The Brain” and Galen’s was, well, I bet you guessed already, his normal nickname, “Big G”.

I didn’t see this as a normal combination of two friends acting like goofs when I came up with the name for myself.

The name of “The Brain” came from the big guy-little guy combination. My wrestling mastermind immediately thought of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, one of the greatest voices and the single greatest manager in the history of the wrestling business, and Andre the Giant, who needs no explanation.

When I entered the talent show with “Slick” Nick Willis, I kept the name not only as a tribute to Bobby Heenan, but to the relationship I had with Big G.

Whenever I went up to the altar to pray with my buddies whom had gone up, G was already there, and had beat me to it; but he wasn’t just praying with our “squad”, he went down practically the entire altar, praying or not, uplifting fellow students.

This of course led to him winning the Citizenship Award on the last day, which was mentioned and explained in the camp post linked above.

“Big G” Galen Reed has proven to me that he is a true (in the words of Clay Marsh) “God-friend” whom is worthy of all my respect. I have been honored and privileged to know him like a brother for the past year or so and hope to be blessed with many more to come. If you ever get the chance to meet him (you can’t miss him, he’s well over 6′ tall) take that opportunity, and he will most likely bless your heart as much as he has mine and many others within our church family.

Baron Corbin – from Football Player to Hated Wrestler

Baron Corbin – real name Thomas Pestock – was a football player in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts. He was released by them on August 13 of 2009, and resigned six days later on August 19 only to be released again less than a month later on September 5.

Corbin later got a futures contract with the Arizona Cardinals on January 18, 2010, only to be released by them on September 3 and signed to the practice team on the sixth. He was released once again on September 2 of 2011 – clearly he is very unlucky during September.

With no prior experience whatsoever, he later signed a developmental contract with WWE in 2012 and made his TV debut on the May 8, 2013 edition of NXT, losing to Damien Sandow of all people.

He then made appearances a jobber – someone set to lose every match they’re put in to make their more popular opponent look good – until May 8, 2014.

A repackaged (made to have a new gimmick or character) Corbin returned on September 11, 2014 at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way where he defeated CJ Parker.

From there he began a totally different, completely opposite career – getting put in matches against only jobbers and squashing every one of them and, with the crowd counting, beating them in usually less than 20 seconds. I’m pretty sure he’s lost only three, if not less, matches since then.

This is the Baron Corbin that I’ve seen – the dominant, boring, Baron Corbin who gets literally “15 seconds of fame” on a weekly basis.

Last night on the July 15, 2015 edition of NXT (exclusively on the WWE Network for just $9.99), he unofficially made his debut with yet another new character via a promotional video. This time, it’s a character very, very easy to hate. The perfect heel (bad guy) – a guy that you hate so much that you believe he shouldn’t succeed in any way. Usually, that’s a good thing, that’s why they’re a heel, but with this gimmick, it’s a terrible thing.

I say this and I’m one that is usually on the side of the heels.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find the video outside of the WWE Network (did I mention it was only $9.99?). Basically, it’s him bashing every other guy on the roster saying he’s the only one that deserves anything and explaining how they performed in gyms in front of 100 or less people and got paid with concession food while he was in the NFL, performing in front of thousands and getting paid “in bigger checks than they’ll ever see.”

Like I said earlier, being hated when you’re playing the part is usually a good thing, but when you’re pointing out that you didn’t work to get into the wrestling business and trying to make it a positive, it’s the worst thing you can possibly do. Yes, you’re still hated, but not in the way your character wants to be.

Here is a guy who played in the NFL for less than a full year, was a mediocre player that no one ever heard of unless they were a die-hard Colts fan, and was released about five times. He’s trying to make that sound good, and in the process bashing & insulting guys that worked 15+ years just to get to the WWE, haven’t accomplished but so much, and think they deserve more.
Corbin pointed out that they worked in gyms to get paid a hot dog.

THAT’S JUST IT.

They worked to get where they are and didn’t care about the money. They just wanted to wrestle.

Corbin is bragging about football.

I’ve always hated when guys come I’m without any wrestling experience whatsoever, but when they make their character brag about it, there isn’t even a word to describe how much I despise them, especially when they can’t even make a 20 second match look good!

The new gimmick for Baron Corbin was a terrible idea and is just going to cause yet another career to go into a downward spiral and give us another Zack Ryder or Damien Sandow (not Macho Mandow – the stunt double gimmick and the Mega Powers are pure gold!).

Whether you want to call it a rant, a complaint, or an act of passionate defense for the business, the fact stands true – I officially hate Baron Corbin.

The Song of Life – Wednesday Night Bible Study (March 11, 2015)

Over the past couple of weeks, Clay has spoken on “listening,” and considering listening is what brought me to Christ, it caught my attention. So considering I know you all love music, I’m extending Clay’s lessons on listening further, but this time more focused on music, not only the music we listen to, but the music that we play for Him – I entitled it “The Song of Life”.

I was thinking of using Lifesong by Casting Crowns, but I feel like it gets overplayed and if you’ve ever listened to Spirit FM, you have heard it at least 10 times. So while I was writing this devotion, this song played, and I felt like it went along with what I’d be talking about just as well; it’s called “Shine On” and is by one of both Clay & I’s favorite artists – needtobreathe.

One of my favorite quotes comes from a movie about a boy who believes music helps him find his parents: “Music is all around us, all you have to do is listen.”

This quote almost describes our lives – which leads me to three big questions for today – God places within us and around us the music of life, but what is the “song” of our lives? Are we living a song that God would want to listen to on repeat for hours at a time like we do certain songs? Do our lives sing a song to Him and about Him or are our lives just lip-synching and we don’t know the words?

You may not know it, but the Bible itself is filled with songs; in fact, the book of Psalm is a whole book of songs. Today, we’re going to look at the life songs of three major characters in the Bible.

• The first person we’ll look at is David who wrote the majority of the songs in the book of Psalm:

Although David wrote many praise songs to God, they weren’t always what you’d call happy songs.

Have you ever heard a sad praise song? I sure haven’t thus the genre name being “praise”, there isn’t one that exists.

Even through the dark times of David’s life, he chose to allow his life to sing a song of praise to God.

While running for his life from King Saul and hiding in a cave, David penned Psalm 57, and one verse that stands out is verse seven, where he declares this –

My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.

— Psalm 57:7

“Steadfast” means resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering; loyal; faithful; committed; devoted; dedicated.

The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

— 2 Samuel 12:1-10

Psalm 51 was written by David after Nathan the Prophet had confronted him about his sin. In verse ten of this, David cries out for forgiveness –

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

— Psalm 51:10

David’s life was not free from challenge, there was the battle with Goliath; Saul hated him and tried to kill him; there were threats of still other enemies. His life was not free from tragedy – his and Bathsheba’s first son died as a baby; another son, Absalom, tried to overtake his kingdom of Israel; and his only daughter was raped by one of his other sons. His life was not free from sin – he committed adultery; he murdered; he neglected his family life. Yet in it all, David chose to let his life sing a song of praise to God.

• Another was Moses, whom I have not nearly as much to say as I did about David, just a few verses. He was threatened to be killed as a baby, became an Egyptian prince, and was used by God to lead Israel out of slavery.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.

“The Lord is my strength and my defense, he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.

The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy.

“In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.

By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up.

The surging waters stood up like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy boasted, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.

I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them.

I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.’

But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them.

They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Who among the gods is like you, Lord?

Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

“You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies.

In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.

In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia.

The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away; terror and dread will fall on them.

By the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone— until your people pass by, Lord, until the people you bought pass by.

You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.

“The Lord reigns for ever and ever.”

When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, theLord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

— Exodus 15:1-19

Moses sings a song to praise God and also causes the Israelites to remember God’s mighty deeds in leading them out of Egypt and slavery. He gives glory to God, and triumphs in him.

• The last person is Mary, who when she was just a virgin teenager, gave birth to Jesus himself after an angel spoke to her.

Luke 1:46-55 records Mary’s song of hope.

And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful

to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

There is no telling the ridicule and disgrace Mary had to go through as an unwed pregnant teenager; yet, Mary focused on the hope of God’s promised and chose for her life to sing a song of trust to Him.
Music has more effect on your mood and more importantly your attitude on life more than almost anything else. Yes, it is okay to listen to some of whatever you want to listen to, a lot of the Christian music is almost kind of cheesy and only a select few will actually impact you, but if what you listen to changes your song to God into something he doesn’t particularly want to listen to, cut whatever you’re listening to out of your life for a bit and turn on some of that sometimes “cheesy” music for 10 or 15 minutes and pray.

Living On The Edge – Sunday School, May 3, 2015

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

— Romans 12:2

What you saw in the I am Second video with Miss Kay is someone who stayed loyal to God no matter how her husband acted. Phil was a bitter man, but because she stayed loyal to the Lord, God fixed him up to the way he should be.

In eighteenth-century England, the king was interviewing drivers for the royal coach. He asked each one, “If you were driving on a winding mountain road, how close could you come to the edge of the road without going over?”

The first driver boasted, ”I’m an excellent driver, Your Majesty. I could drive your coach to within eighteen inches of the edge at top speed and not go over.”

The second driver bragged, “My skill and experience are unparalleled in the kingdom. I could drive your coach to within six inches of the edge.”

But the third driver responded, “I wouldn’t take any chances with your safety, Your Majesty. I would drive the coach as far away from the edge as possible.”

The king chose the third driver, who was more interested in the king’s welfare than in showing off how well he could drive.

Sometimes students are like the first two drivers: “I want to see how close to the edge I can get without getting into trouble.”

The one thing they want to know about school is “How little can I study?” And their one puzzle about getting along with parents is “How mouthy can I be?” Those who are useful to the King have the attitude of the third driver: “To honor my King, I will see how far from the edge I can stay.”

You’re driving sane when you not only let God change your behavior but also remake your thoughts from the inside out. According to Romans 12:2, there are two groups of people: those becoming more like everyone else in the world, and those being transformed into Christ’s likeness. Your mind is the battlefield. Lose the war there, and you lose it in your actions.

If you want to change, begin today to spend at least a few minutes every day reading, studying, and memorizing God’s Word. Think about how the verses specifi­cally apply to your life.

Here’s how the formula works:

Information (The Bible)

+

Meditation (applying it to your life)

=

Transformation (A new you)

If you haven’t spent much time reading your Bible before, 1 John is a great place to start. Begin today and watch God’s Word change your life.

REFLECT: Are there areas of life where you drive close to the edge?

PRAY: I ask you, God, to please transform my life from the inside out.

Who is my neighbor? – Sunday School (July 12, 2015)

Through the guidance of God I decided to go on the subject of the “Second Greatest Commandment” without actually mentioning that it was just that. I did that to get the message across. Reason being: in my “career” so far, I’ve learned that if you mention something that has probably been heard before, people (especially teens) are less likely to pay attention.

With great delight, it turned out that leaving out those three words got a good reaction, and a 10-15 minute lesson turned into a 20+ minute discussion and the only one that ended up getting that it was the second greatest commandment ended up being Clay Marsh, our current youth pastor whom was preaching in place of Pastor Bill Willis later in the morning. That fact was both a good and bad thing, good because I got the message across without using it (and an additional reminder that “The Rock” knows his stuff), but bad because no one in the room but the pastor and the future pastor (the one teaching the lesson) exactly knew what the second greatest commandment is.

Now they know!

I hope you enjoy it and learn from it as much as they did.

25 A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?”

26 Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?”

27 He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”

29 But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

— Luke 10:25-29

Who is my neighbor? It’s an excellent question. Jesus responded by telling the man the story of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:30-37)

In the story, a man is traveling along when he is jumped by a bunch of robbers, beaten, and left for dead in the ditch beside the road. A priest came by, saw the man, but didn’t want to get involved so he pretended not to see him and passed by. Then a Levite, a church leader, came by and also went on his way without helping. Finally a Samaritan came along. Samaritans were people of mixed race who were generally hated and regarded as worthless. The Samaritan had compassion on this man, who, under normal circumstances wouldn’t have given the Samaritan the time of day. He gave the man first aid, put him on his donkey, took him to town, and paid an innkeeper to take care of him until he was well enough to travel again.

Jesus asks, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor?” And then he commands us to, “Go and do likewise.”

We certainly don’t find people wounded and lying in the gutter every day. But, every day we are surrounded by people who have gaping emotional wounds—people who are depressed, people who don’t fit in, people who are lonely and need a friend. It’s certainly easier to pretend you don’t see them and pass by. But that isn’t what Jesus wants from you. Think of a person right now who needs you to be a neighbor, pray for that person, and, “Go and do likewise.”

At Camp, God’s The Champ, and Friendships Are Just As Real As He Is

Ever heard the saying blood is thicker than water?

As I’m sure you’ve seen, recently, it’s been said that the saying is a shortened version of “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” which not only has a meaning completely opposite of the first, but is the perfect definition of relationships through Jesus Christ.

When you go to the Virginia district’s Nazarene teen camp, not only will your relationship with God grow, but current friendships will grow stronger and new friendships will be made.

Everyone on the campus is considered family to one another.

Every year that my feet exit the van with “Charlottesville First Church of the Nazarene” plastered to the side of it (or sometimes Christy’s car) and step onto the grounds of the Virginia Nazarene Camp I already feel changed and immediately feel overcome by grace and joy.

This past week, we had morning & night services every day, like every year. This year, they were led by author and speaker Susie Shellenberger (you can watch her most recent weekly, minute-long devotional on 2 Corinthians 3 here).

Shellenberger’s night services had themes to them, consisting of iRok, iSleep, iStand, and iDie.

After the “iRok” service, we had our nightly group devotionals and in this instance we had to go up front and find a way to explain the rules. One of our options was to do a rap. Me, being my very energetic self, thought it sounded like an entertaining idea. I came up with a rap about the rules of protecting others’ and the camp’s property, and cleaning up after ourselves.

After the rest of our group performed their silent skit, along with Big G (whom I’ll talk about later) as my beat-boxer, I explained what they had just silently shown with this rap… or rather just a poem that I made go along with a beat.

Yo, don’t touch that phone; that ain’t yours.
Hey dude that’s my phone; not yours.

Writing in the halls, writing on the stalls.
Put that pen down, don’t write on the walls.

Trash on the ground, makes Tammy frown.
Put it where it belongs, make it drown.

For some reason, the rap sounded way better when sang (rather said) along with the beat and caused most everyone in the boys’ dorm when I was going to “drop a mix-tape,” got plenty of praise from the rest of the people on campus, and actually had a youth leader from Lynchburg (whom I’m very close to) Logan Phillips, better known as Logi-Bear, request that I perform another in the talent show, but I’ll get to that later; back to the less meant-to-be entertaining, meant to be emotional and spiritual stuff.

On the night of “iSleep,” I felt led to share my personal testimony as I felt it would help others to share theirs.

In my opinion, the two best were her sermons on iStand and iDie.

For iStand, she spoke about standing up for your faith like the people in Islam and other countries, and the story of The Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3) in which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to “worship the image of gold you (King Nebuchadnezzar) have set up.'” (Daniel 3:12) This message led to an altar call, something we did at every service this week, that led to nearly every single person in the room, student and adult alike, to go up and pray with a counselor about whatever was holding them back from being able to say “iStand”. In this instance, you would be “awarded” of sorts with a t-shirt that reads “iStand three guys, one inferno, & a whole lot of tan.”

After this, we had a talent show in which Nick Willis (for the show known as “Slick” Nick, I was Collin “The Brain”) came in as my new beat-boxer.

We came out first to some intro music that Slick requested to Logi-Bear and I hit the crowd with an intro with a good and catchy rhyme before hitting the crowd with yet another rap, titled “Ridin’ To Camp” and at the request of Nick, dedicated to KFC (neither of us know why, this was a flat-out comedy show at this point).

Ridin’ in the van.
Sleep if you can.

The girls really loud,
Like the fox yelling wapapapow.

Appiton.
Complains on & on.

Sayin’ “she’s takin a selfie.
A selfie wit’ me.”

They bicker back and forth.
Arguments got no worth.

Big G in the back.
Not listening to rap.

He’s listening to rave.
Something that he craves.

I’m sitting shotgun,
Beside the only one.

The one in the van,
Older than a hundred and ten.

His name is Clay Marsh.
His clothes need to be washed.
Not really, it’s all willy nilly.

I’m just trying to rhyme.
Now we finally arrive.
To praise the man in the sky.

That’s all we’ve got.
Beat us?
Take your best shot,

And I hope you got a kick,
Out of that beat by Nick.

Some of the fellow campers say we “stole the show” (no, I’m not basking in our glory and trying to have all the thunder, although it was pretty nice), but I would say the two performances that truly stole the show were Issi Marsh (performing a song by OneDirection and “Dream On” by Aerosmith) and Kayla Barker (performing “Baby” by Justin Bieber [I have to add she looks like him] and “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey), and counselors Chima Ezeigbo and Ben Bailey doing the Mr. Bean opera.

Neither of the performances consisted of singing by the people actually performing.

Issi and Kayla had a Jimmy Fallon-style lip-sync battle while Chima and Ben “gracefully” danced and eventually “died”.

True comedy, and although some thought Nick & I’s rap, Pastor Allen Perdue & his kids performing “Oceans” by Hillsong UNITED, some amazing dancing & drawing, were all good, no performance stood out to me as those two (along with Greg & Caanan’s [ENC representatives] camp song) as much.

For the night of iDie, Susie spoke more about Islam and standing up for your faith and what we would do if we were put in a situation to die for God.

This night in particular stood out to me.

After the service, we had an altar call like every night of the five days. That night, my brother in Christ, Nick, a nephew of my pastor, along with his brother, Camden, went up to the front. Me being so close to them, and usually doing so anyways, went up to pray with them.

Camden did not pray out loud as I prayed over them but his brother, however, did.

The one thing he said that caught me, as I was into my own prayer for them, was something he said over and over.

“We’re going to be the generation to change the world.”

Like I said, I didn’t hear the rest of the prayer, and didn’t need to, as every time he said it I paused mid-sentence and basked in the way it touched me.

After the altar call Nick went up to the front and said the same words, which of course, led to an applause and a roar of proud teenagers.

On the last day, Wednesday, we had another service, but the shorter-than-the-rest service didn’t stand out to me, what happened after did.

Afterwards the Citizenship Award was presented, an award earned for showing amazing kindness, true love of God and, well, citizenship. It also pays for the full experience and expenses of camp the next year.

Camp director Tammy Hensley went up front and introduced my youth pastor Clay Marsh.

Clay came up front and while a select few people actually yelled my name, I shook my head “no” and unbeknownst to him, pointed to whom I knew was the true winner at that point, especially considering I wouldn’t even be coming as a student the next year.

Clay proved me right after an into I can’t match.

The winner was my “brother”, “Big G”, Galen Reed, a true living example of how a teddy-bear, rather a Christian, should be and act. A young 15-year-old who already stands at around 6’10”. Someone who is constantly causing people to smile, giving hugs, and showing true acts of kindness.

I went up front after it was known that the choked-up teddy couldn’t give an acceptance speech, and rather than giving a congratulation hug from just me, I was soon crowded around by EVERYONE in the tabernacle and was probably in the middle of the biggest group hug in history.

After the students had cleared and G got a hug from the crying (she definitely wasn’t the only one) Tammy Hensley, I got the signature Big G bear hug I was originally looking for to an awkward yet emotional and just as touching “aww” from everyone in the room.

Later on the way home, Galen said that he also thought that it was me or him after Clay was called up, but as soon as I heard Tammy say “I’m going to ask that Clay Marsh come up,” I had no doubts at all who the winner was.

Out of all the memories of just this year, the many other years, and the many more to come of being on that campground, that was the most memorable of them all, and I want to thank everyone who was simply there and made this past week so special; I look forward to seeing you next year and for many more to come.

God bless you ALL.