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5th July 2010 by Amy Peterson

Camps are sooo much fun!! I love the feeling of going on a camp and bonding and making great connections with other people. You can share exciting, hilarious, emotional and even tender experiences with people that you were never that close to before, so by the end of it, everyone one feels like a great big family!! Know the feeling??

Making connections with other people and consequently building relationships is a way that God uses us to witness and share his love. God puts people in our lives for us to nurture, encourage and even learn from. Unfortunately, sometimes we get so caught up in the busyness of life that we become shallow and begin to back away from those relationships. I have personally experienced this.

When you are in high school, the pressures of doing well in school can become overwhelming and seem to overtake your life. Often, I have found that I need to be reminded of Matthew 6:33 "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well".

God's will is the most important; it is more important than our own, and we need to surrender our wills to him. When we do this and seek first his Kingdom, he will give us the desires of our hearts! He knows them, better than anyone does, and he knows what is best for us.

When we build relationships with other people, we learn more about them, and they about us. What's even better is they can start to see more of what Jesus is doing in our lives as we share and open up to them!

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn in two. This symbolised the removal of the spiritual deadness that kept us from stepping into the throne room of God. Now we can have – if we choose – a spiritual life that allows us to walk into God's throne room with boldness, and then have a growing relationship with our Abba Father!!

As you and your friends build relationships with one another, they will become increasingly curious of an evident light shining within you. They will start to want the type of relationship that you have with God. Nothing else will ever satisfy us, so you need to point them – through your relationship with them – to a loving relationship with the Father. They will admire and hunger for that, and the intimacy with God you know, as you continue to grow in and live out the life Christ has given you! Your friendships bring endless amounts of opportunities to witness to your friends, sometimes without you consciously knowing!

I was recently on a school camp and I had one of these opportunities. A few of my friends who I have known for a long time were in my cabin with me, and one night we began talking about religion and then they started asking me questions about my faith. I shared a few things with them and they began to comment on the truth of those things, and according to them, it was only because they had seen it in my life as they have gotten to know me. They were able to ask me about why I live the way I do and that night in that cabin, more understanding of the unconditional love of Christ was revealed to them.

Your Father loves you, and he wants you to express and share that same love to others! Make each other accountable by reminding each other to put God's will first. If you see your Christian friends putting other things first, gently remind them of what their true purpose and worth is so that together you can go out to increase God's family!

This is your mission if you choose to accept: Matthew 28:18-20. "... I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit ... And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

By Amy Peterson

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