Lost Sheep

Everyone has heard the story of the lost sheep, right?
Well, in my case, it's the lost puppy.
When I was about five or so, my brother, my mom and I went to North Carolina on a business trip during July. It wasn't the first time we had gone on that trip, it was maybe about the second or third time.
I don't remember anything about this trip except for the day we left. My mom woke me up early and since I'm not a morning person, I let her and Steven pack all my stuff. Once the car was packed and we were checked out of the hotel, my mom picked me up out of my bad and carried me to the car.
I slept for about another two or three hours in the back seat while Mom and Steven were in the front talking. I woke up and started to look around the back seat for my stuffed animal, Rover. He was red and had a big nose. Everyone that ever saw him said that he was Cliffard, but sure enough, he isn't.
But I couldn't find him so I asked my mom where he had gone. In about three seconds she went into a state of panic almost. She looked at Steven bugged eyed. I knew something was wrong. She told me that she didn't know where he was but we would search the suitcases and the trunk the next time we stopped. He wasn't there.
See, my mom was in such a rush that morning that she forgot to dig for him in the covers before she pulled me to the car. I couldn't believe she left the single most important thing at the hotel.
I spent the whole ride home sulking in the back seat. My mom tried to make it up to me in so many ways.
When we got home, she called the hotel. The cleaning crew had found Rover between the sheets and they said that they would mail him back to us.
A week later, I finally got him back. Just in time for my birthday.

To this day I still sleep with my stuffed animal. It's my blankey, only better. It was my lost puppy that we waited for. And now looking back at this, I realize that God waited on me for a year.

It was my 8th grade year. I had two friends that I ate lunch with, and personally, I didn't like one of them. I hated every previous moment that had happened in middle school and I had fallen into a state of depression. I ended up drifting so far from God that year that I was practically ashamed to call myself a preacher's kid.
That Martin Luther Kind Jr. weekend changed my whole life though. We had gone up to our church camp with the young group for the Behold weekend.

Let me say something about that camp, first. I've known that place like the back of my eye lids my whole life. No matter what age I was, I felt closer to God at that camp then any church I have ever steped foot in. I still feel that way today.

When we arrived to camp, I wasn't sure if that weekened would do anything for me. But, Friday ended and Saturday began. That Saturday night was what changed my life. During the worship service, the speaker talked about a man in a dungeon who only ate so much and only saw light for a breif moment of time. But he descibed this man's journey out of the dungeon. How the light became brighter as he traveled further out. Everything the speaker said was me. It was like he was talking to me and no one else. My best friend and I cried our eyes out that night. During the songs "Here I am to Worship" and "Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord," I felt like I was coming out of my own dungeon. God accepted me back into his kingdom.

I was mailed back home.

That camp means the world to me. I have rededicated my life to God at that camp, watched my friend dedicate her life to God at that camp, and this back MLK weekend, I answered a call to ministry at that camp. No word can express how any of that feels.
That moment in time is ingraved in my brain. I'll never forget how it felt. Everytime those songs come through my headphones, they bring tears to my eyes.

I can tell this story a lot better in person, so ask me about it. But don't be scared if I cry. I don't usually cry when I tell stories, I use hand motions and use sound effects and wacked out facial expressions, but that story takes my breath away as I remember the reason I live today. I'm a better person now, and I owe it to who ever came up with Behold weekend. And of course, my God.