The End...Or A New Beginning

So, I've been home for almost a week now and I can honestly say that I am a changed person. What I have learned this summer will be invaluable in my quest to honor God. I am truly blessed that I got to have this experience. I learned numerous things about leadership and my faith that I can apply to my own life.

1. Realizing what the Gospel really means-The Gospel was just pounded into me this summer, and now I know truly what grace means and that it's not by the things that we do that makes us Christians.

2. Trusting in the Lord for everything-Whether it's money, relationships, education, whatever, bring it before the Lord. There's nothing too big or too little that He can't handle. I saw the results of trusting in God, and it was absolutely awesome!

3. Giving your life to Christ-A lot of people wrestle with how to fit God's plan into their life, when we should be asking how our lives fit into God's plan. If we truly were devoted to God, we would go anywhere and do anything in His name. If God is calling me to be a missionary in China, then so be it. Right now, I don't know what God's calling me to do, but I do have skills that would be fruitful overseas.

4. Being a Christian Man-Through our men's times and the men's retreat as well as reading Wild at Heart, I learned what it really means to be a Christian man. Rejecting passivity, accepting responsibility, leading courageously, loving sacrificially, and expecting God's greater reward. I am part of a fraternity, a fraternity of Christian men that know how to treat Excellent women of God.

5. Knowing God even more-Christianity is a relationship, and the only way to strengthen a relationship is to spend time together. I realized the importance of daily quiet times reading the Bible and praying, just getting closer to God. When we are closest to God, we are most satisfied in Him, when we are most satisfied in Him, He is most glorified in us.

6. Knowledge of the Bible-This is still a work in progress, even over a lifetime, but I feel like I have a better grasp on the Bible. Regurgitating scripture comes more naturally now. This comes in handy when discipling or sharing my faith, especially with atheists or people of other religions.

7. Sharing my faith-Sharing my faith became an almost simple task. My confidence has increased and now, I feel like I could talk to anyone. I now know how to smoothly transition to the Gospel and not make it awkward, because it's only awkward if you make it awkward. I also found out that following up with people is very important to foster their new faith. Letting yourself be the vessel that the Holy Spirit uses is such a great feeling when you come out of a good conversation.

8. Discipling-This is probably the most important thing that an organization like Cru can offer. Having someone older and wiser in their faith is imperative to a young Christian's developing faith. I cannot wait to lead my freshman bible study and be that annoying guy that calls you every week about bible study and Cru! I cannot wait to meet with my guys and have one on one time, because that is where faith is fostered.

9. Outreach/Advertisement-I learned numerous ways to reach out to people to get them to come to FNL, and I cannot wait to utilize some of these to get people to come to Cru. That is how we can get our numbers back up!

10. Organization-I learned how Cru is organized and I hope to maybe reorganize our Cru, so that it runs more efficiently.

These were just a few of the big things that I learned, but there are many more. The community that I experienced there was so intensely god-centered that it's been really hard leaving it. I have made friends that will undoubtedly be standing at my wedding. I love every single one of you SDSPers. Let me tell you of our last day:

Thursday, we decide to stay up all night to get as much time with everyone as possible. I woke up at 9am that day and went kayaking, so I was tired and maybe took a nap. People started leaving at 3am, so we stood along the rail and in the road making uncopious amounts of noise for hours that night. By 5am, the sun had started rising, and people were already crying. I told myself that I wasn't gonna cry. But as the people that I love left, I just couldn't take it. My roommate Caleb left, and I got choked up. Then my other roommate James left and I got teared up. But then 7am rolls around and Deven is taking Bekah and I to the airport. I said my goodbyes to everyone, but then I got to Ryon. Ryon is probably the one guy who I was closest to, being in my growth group and all. When I saw his face, I just lost it. Deven had been doing rounds to the airport and he said our ride was unusually calm. He described each other ride as intense sobbing by everyone lol.

Bekah was flying Southwest to Baltimore through Phoenix, and I was flying Air Tran to Baltimore through Atlanta. Our planes arrived at the same time, so we decided to meet up at BWI. I sat while she got her boarding pass and chatted for about an hour, we still had like 4 hours to spare, but we went our separate ways to our terminals. I picked up my boarding pass and got in line for security when I see Kim and Courtney from project! It was so reassuring having people that I knew with me.

When we get to our terminal, we see Elizabeth, and soon we are accompanied by James, Emily, Anton, Jenn, Heidi, Keller, Corinne, Matt, Tyler, Kevin, Kelsey, Luke, and even more. It was like a mini-reunion! Most of us were on different flights, but I was on the same flight to Atlanta as Matt and Tyler! It was so nice having people on my flight that I knew. It was like a 5 hour flight, but I don't remember much of it at all. I remember seeing the flight attendant doing the safety talk then my eyes couldn't stay open, being awake for about 30 hours at this point. I woke up when we were landing in Atlanta. Then the three of us found our terminal, got some dinner, then my plane left for Baltimore, and theirs didn't leave for a while going to Dulles. So I bid farewell and got on my plane to Baltimore. I slept again and was in Baltimore before I new it. I met my dad outside security and we went to pick up my bags. Then I walked to Southwest and there's Bekah! I said bye to her and told her we would hang out later, since she lives in Reisterstown. Then I got home at around 12:30am on the 8th. What a day! What a summer!

If there's one thing I'm going to take away from this experience it is how much love there was there. I cannot wait to get back to Salisbury and spread that love to others, and hopefully bring people with me to San Diego,if I decide to go back and intern.

Thanks for reading my long post. I only hope that what I've written here has an impact on you and maybe sways you to go on a summer project yourself!