Live Free

This last weekend I was with 50ish teens from my home church in Rumney NH at our annual summer teen camp. This year at camp was more special to me than the years past. Usually I would stay with the Jr. High girls who I love dearly, but this year I had the opportunity to stay with the Sr. High girls. This was very special to me because this particular group of students I have followed along side their spiritual journeys from the time they were in first grade and now most of them are going to be seniors in High School. It has been so encouraging to me to see how they have grown in their faith, and knowledge of Jesus Christ. I have watched them take the faith of their parents and make it their own. Watching them live a life dedicated to Jesus Christ. Not only has it been incredible to see, but it has also been a challenge to me to continue living with that passion for HIM.
The theme of camp this year was “Living Free”. Going into camp I was expecting to hear the same type of messages that are typical teen messages, but the theme of being free resonated with me in a whole new light. I was continually asking myself what is holding me in bondage? What is preventing me from being totally free in Christ? I searched my heart and the verse that continually came to my mind was “the truth will set you free.” Most times when I have read that I took it in a sense of more relational, but I realized over this trip that I needed to tell the truth to myself and to God and only in that will I find true freedom in Christ.
There was another message which was preached on living a life of apathy. This spoke to the hearts of many students, and to me. Think about the times where you have become apathetic in your faith. I have had many periods in my life when I could walk the walk and talk the talk of living for Christ, but inside I was fooling myself. I was living a life of bondage to myself. We live in a society where everyone wants stuff and wants more and more and tries to fill there lives with things and situations, like a significant other or popularity, the list could go on. But it is all these things that pushes the Christian to a life of apathy. Pushes them, even me, to a life where God takes second place.
As I embark on this new journey of life I pray that I will stay passionate for God and keep my eyes on HIM and LIVE FREE! Keeping Him number one!