A couple weeks ago I was invited by a world racer to join him and some other world racers to go camping on the Appalachian trail.
The adventure started this past Wednesday, July 4th. Keep in mind that when I woke up on the 4th I was still a halfway believer. maybe even a 1/4 believer. I didn’t know Jesus, I felt like he had never really spoken to me, and because of that I didn’t feel like I was good enough to spend time with these believers who are strong in their faith, and who know the Bible front to back, but I was determined to make the best out of the trip. Earlier that week I repeatedly told my friend that my life was about to start. I just wanted to feel alive. A spark was igniting inside of me, I could feel it.
Arriving to Max patch (the spot where we parked are butts on the Appalachian trail) I was greeted with warm smiles. I set up camp, along with the 3 others I came with. There were 7 other world racers that had already set up camp the day before. Making 11 of us total. And maybe 20 people on the mountain in total. Once camp was set up we watched in Awe as the sun started to set, Jesus music blared and we watched an elopement on the side of the mountain.
OK ENOUGH WITH THE PAINFUL BACK STORY…. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS COOL. NO SUCH THING AS COINCIDENCE.
As we are all sitting their watching the sunset we see a girl wearing a world race shirt. We all ran over to her. And guess what….. Her and the two other friends with her had just came back from world race gap year about a month ago. It was a last second decision for them to come. The two girls were from Atlanta, and their friend Nick was from California. He had just moved to Georgia a week ago. Remember no such thing as coincidence. They came over to our camp spot, we all stood by the fire and listened to their stories, and their advice. I shared my story with Ky, and Nick. I explained my past, and how broken I was, and they had their own stories to share. Ky prayed over me, and kept saying the words gentle and bold. “Jesus will use you in his kingdom.” Everything felt so crazy. Constant tears, I can’t even begin to explain the feeling that was being felt, but it was Jesus. In that moment for the first time in my entire life I believed. I became a full believer. No doubts.
Towards the end of the night Ky gathered us all around the camp fire. Everyones arms were around someone. As she prayed I could hear all the sniffles, and I could sense all the confirmation in the words we were hearing. How crazy is it that 14 teenagers are gathered on top of a mountain, praising Jesus, feeling like we’ve known each other for years, when in reality we all just met an hour before. But just when I thought it couldn’t get any more crazy Nick pulled me out of the prayer circle, and said All of heaven is screaming Uyaphila for you. It means “I am Alive” in Zulu one of the many languages spoken in South Africa. ( did I mention that South Africa is one of the places I am going to next year, and remember when I said earlier that I kept telling my friend that my life was about to start, and I just wanted to feel alive… well ) As soon as Nick said those words the tears were inevitable. I found Jesus. After 18 long years of fighting it, it felt so good to have confirmation. I don’t think any of my brothers and sisters that were there that night realized that in just a few hours they completely flipped everything I believed upside down.
ONE MORE REALLY COOL THING
Today in church one of the singers during worship was introducing the next song and said ” this is a new one, its called “I’m alive” I turned to my mom ( who already knew what happened to me the other day) and we both just started to cry. God is so good.
