thebabyperks

At first I was going to make this into a YouTube video however I didn't know how to organize it. By writing everything I can organize as I go.

First, if you didn't know (which you probably didn't), I went on my church's youth retreat this weekend. It went from Friday through Sunday and the theme was "Person of Interest". Spoiler alert the overall person of interest was us, Friday the person of interest was God, Saturday it was Jesus, and Sunday it was the Holy Spirit.

Last year I hated retreat, I was just in a bad place overall in my life and I was taking on too many people's problems while battling my own. This year I went in with a positive attitude and hey I got a positive experience.

I got put on the pink team and my leaders both made a huge impact on me, especially Mike Bounds. He has so much knowledge and I loved the way he talked about the Bible.

Anyway, for me there were 3 extremely powerful moments.

#1: Each team had to carry a cross up a (good mile, mile and a half) hill. There were around 10 of us on a team and carrying it up a hill was no easy task. As much as I wanted to complain and give up I thought; Jesus did this on his own, I have no right to complain. Just reaching the top, there was this overwhelming sensation of amazement. It brought to life everything Jesus went through for US. Then we each got a nail and nailed it to the cross. The moment I nailed my sins/worries/etc to the cross was an amazing moment of freedom from all my problems.

#2 This year we had 15 seniors in our youth group and on Saturday night we honored them by having a Senior Bonfire. Pretty much my youth pastor, Troy, reads off letters their parents wrote them and letters he wrote them. I bawled even before the first senior's letters were read. All these people have made such a huge impact on my life and I can't thank them enough for everything they've done and taught me. Also it was a surreal moment because in 2 short years I'll be up there as a senior.

#3: The youth praise band was incredible. We sang so many songs, my favorite being "God's Not Dead" check it out here. Every time we sang it I got goosebumps. Just seeing all these people worshiping and praising God was amazing and I would give anything for everyone to experience it.