a summer to remember

This was a summer of new things.
I was challenged in many ways, doing things I have never done, or tried to do but failed at. This time it was different though. I learned how to direct a program, along side someone who challenged me, and frustrated me beyond belief, but in good ways. I learned how to deal with things when they happened, and work with others in doing so. My relationship with God was once again rebuilt, like when waves come crashing down onto a foundation, it was rebuilt after 4 months of crashing. I was able to finally wakeboard, drive a quad, learn the ropes of how camp really works, and canoe into the night longing for my thermorest in my tent.

I got to hang out with teenagers all summer, making me realize that I love working with youth and pushing all other feelings aside. I made new friends, and reconnected with old. I made an impact on peoples lives, while without knowing they actually impacted mine.

However my favorite day was one that I will never forget, and one that will never happen again. It was August 17, I was baptized. My dad, mom, and best friend/mentor, Robyn, drove out the 4 hours to come and see camp, the place that has impacted me so much over the last 12 years, the place that I connected with God, the place that I could be me. They drove 8 hours that day, to see me and where I play in the summer for a short 4 hours, and in that time I showed them around camp, hung out with the staff, went boating, and was baptized. It has been a wish of mine for years to be baptized out at camp, if I choose to be baptized again, and this day it became a reality. It only happened because of one person who took my hand and said come with me. Robyn, who at the time, was my boss, opened up to me, taking the chance, and asked me to come to church with her. She didn't even know that this was all I had ever wanted from someone. I didn't really have anyone to take me to church before, and even though I was 18 years old, and could have gone myself, I wanted to go with someone. I thank her for that, without her I don't know where I would be. As we waded out into the water, waist deep, I felt like I was in a dream, it was finally happening, I was being baptized in the lake where I had met God the most, and the person baptizing me was the person who helped me get to where I am at today. As she baptized me in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I felt a rush come over me, and all I could do was cry. It was a good feeling, I couldn't let go. I felt like I had just graduated from something, maybe it was graduating from my old life, and leaving it behind, looking forward to the new, but whatever it was it was a great feeling!

Now the summer had come and gone, and the fall is to start, I don't feel like its this time already, it still feels like July. I am back to work, starting school in a few days, and trying to get over a bad cold, it seems like I never left. However I did, and things are better then ever before.