Growing up I thought I knew all there was to know about God. I had heard the stories over and over again, I was the kid who lit the candles at the beginning of the service, I prayed, and I took communion. I thought I was the perfect christian kid who did everything right and was surely going to heaven.

And then something changed. My family moved to a different church; it wasn't like the other church I was used to going to. They sang modern music instead of hymnals, they had a very active children's program, and a huge teen youth group (all things that I was not used to).

When I went to the opening night of the youth group I was nervous; the other kids seemed way more religious than I was. I barely knew the youth minister (I had met him once) and I only know two people: someone who came with me and some who had grown up in the church. I sat in the back of the hot, crowded room with my two friends and somewhat listened for 1 1/2 hours as the minister talked.

Two weeks later, the youth minister brought in a guest speaker. The guest speaker talked in front of everyone on the stage, but talked specifically to each grade at a time. He started with the 7th graders (since we were the youngest) and started off telling us who he was, that he was a 7th grader at one point too, that he had been in middle school and that he understood what we were going through. But then his tune changed, he seemed to be talking directly to me (even though I knew he wasn't). He started to talk about how at the age I was at, I needed to start talking God seriously. I was about to start ignoring him because I thought that I did take God seriously and didn't really need to hear this. But before I could he started listing off things that needed to be done in order to take God seriously. He talked about praying everyday correctly, understanding what baptism actually meant, putting others first, and the scariest of them all: completely giving our lives to God.

I was terrified when I left that night, but I was also determined. He said that if we wanted any chance of having a relationship with God we needed to start today, not tomorrow morning, today. I wanted a life with God, so I took his message to heart. I went home and I prayed to God, I talked to him like he was in the room and about my life. I asked him to show me how to have a life with him; and He answered me. Not with words, but with the excitment I felt all week waiting for the next meeting of our youth group.

The next week I came and listened. I talked to people and took the message to heart. I started to sign up for events like CCYC (Carolina Christian Youth Conference), YAC (Youth After Church), BRCC (Blue Ridge Christian Camp), and other opportunities for me to get a closer relationship with God. I went to all of them and every time I came back with a better understanding of God and how to better my relationship with him. I started taking part in volunteering. became involved with the Compassion organization, and became a leader in the children's ministry.

I was finally beginning to see what having a relationship with God was all about. And I was enjoying every minute of it. I know that I don't know everything about God, nor am I the perfect christian (none of us are). But I do know that I am trying to be the person that God wants me to be, no matter where he takes me. Nobody ever said that a life with God was easy, but they all say that it's worth it.