Growing up religion had never become a priority in my household. Although my older brother, Brandyn, and I were both baptized as infants we lacked the knowledge of who Christ was and even why we should care. My sophomore year in high school my friend, Clare, invited me to attend the youth group, Young Life. Young Life is a non-denominational Christian ministry that reaches out to high school students through volunteer leaders, staff, club meetings, and camp in hopes to build strong relationships throughout the community and most importantly build stronger relationship with God.
The love the leaders poured into me was overwhelming in the best ways. I could tell that they actually enjoyed my presence even though they barely knew me. One of the leaders, Paula, even went to the extent of offering for me to join her and her husband, Dave, at church on Sunday mornings. My relationship with the leaders grew close extremely fast, as for the other high schoolers that attended; not so much. I had been going to Young Life for about two months and Clare was still my only friend. I just felt like I didn’t fit in with any of the other students that went. They had all been going for so long and knew Jesus and then there was me.
In November Clare and I signed up for Fall Weekend, a camp in the fall for a weekend. Shortly after Clare and I had gotten into an argument and were no longer friends. At that point I started doubting going to camp and even going to Young Life as a whole. I convinced myself my family didn’t have enough money for me attend Fall Weekend. One night I started typing up a text message to Paula and expressing my family’s financial struggle that would be hindering my attendance. My thumb was hovering over the send button determining if this was the right decision when Paula texted me telling me someone had paid for me to attend camp. My heart was full and although I didn’t know much about God I knew it was a sign from Him.
The weekend before camp, at church Paula was telling my mom and I about Ryan. Ryan was involved in Young Life in high school and absolutely loved it. His favorite part was camp because that’s where he gave his life to Christ. That year, at age 28, Ryan was diagnosed with cancer and that ultimately became his death sentence. Ryan’s last wish was to send a kid to camp. My heart was filled with joy. I asked Paula what hospital he was at so I could go visit him and thank him- Paula informed us Ryan passed away the night before.
Nothing else seemed to matter at the time. I decided I was going to go to camp and have the time of my life for Ryan; and that’s exactly what I did. That weekend I talked to God, really talked to Him. That’s something I never did and never would have imagined myself doing before. Ryan’s last wish could’ve been anything, but it was to help another being find themselves through Christ. Now here I am, a year and a half later getting ready to dive into my nine month vogue of spreading God’s word and acting as His hands and feet. God works miracles and I am beyond grateful for the grace and blessings He’s showered me with. As for Ryan, this is for you.
