The Sentence that Changed Me

  A huge passion of mine is mission trips. I love to travel and reach people who don’t know about the Love of Christ. The church that I go to offers Spring Break mission trips to all middle school and high school students. However, there is a special mission trip that they have for seniors only. Every year, my church takes a group of seniors and adults to Peru. I signed up for this trip as soon as the applications went out. I had no idea what God had planned for the trip, but I knew that I was supposed to be on this trip and that I was going to experience God in BIG ways.

  On the trip, there was a guy named Thomas Nelson. He is the College Minister at my church, and every year he goes on the Senior Mission Trip to Peru to see who will be his incoming freshman for the new school year. I had heard Thomas speak once or twice before the trip, and I have always been able to relate myself to what he is teaching and challenging us with. However, I had never met him and had a converstaion with him. Well, on this trip, we met and he really began to impact my life. One morning we had breakfast and we just started to talk and get to know each other, and it was the first time that I felt that a leader was there to help the students grow in their faith. It was the first time that I felt completely comfortale with myself and my faith. The next day, Thomas was speaking to the senior class after we had gotten back from our daily activities. The speech that he gave, is the speech that changed my life. He said, “I am tired of students living average Christian lifestyles, and being content with themselves.” When I heard this, the light bulb went off in my head. I realized that I was content with my faith, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job with my life. I did my quiet time almost everyday, I was planning on going to a small Christian college, I always went to church, and I surrounded myself with Christian friends. I had convinced myself that I was doing really good, even though I didn’t completely have a consuming passion for God’s Heart.

  Throughout the remainder of the trip, I repeated that sentence to myself, “I am tired of students living average Christian lifestyles, and being content with themselves.” God revealed Himself to me in BIG ways on the Peru trip, and He revealed to me that my heart need to be set on fire for Him and Him alone. After the trip, I began to talk with Thomas and re-evaluate my college decision to go to Anderson University to play soccer. I realized that God did not want me to go to a Christian college and remain in an atmosphere where my faith would never be challenged. He wants me to go to a big, public university where I will have the opportunity to reach out to people who don’t know the Love of Christ, just like in missions. After praying about it and talking to my parents, my friends, and Thomas, I have decided and been accepted to Kennesaw State University. This school is only 20 minutes away from my house, so I will be able to continue to go to my church and be in the college ministry with Thomas Nelson, who started it all. I now have a heart set on fire for God and I can’t wait to see what opportuinities He brings me in college. I have complete faith that I will grow and mature so much and I am so thankful that God put Thomas Nelson in my life.