This weekend I experienced something life changing. No, really!

In a meeting with Bill Bray, Glenview Baptist’s Youth Minister, he gave an account of last week’s Youth Camp. The week was uneventful, but good. The kids seemed to grow in their walk with God, but nothing out of the ordinary, right up until the last night. Bill planned one more worship and teaching session before the kids all headed home. He said he wasn’t even sure what he was going to talk about. But then, God stepped in.

The kids were gathered in an open air pavilion that serves as the snack bar. It just happened that one of the girls had a video camera and she decided to start filming. A kid named Scott, a chronic stutterer, was sitting with a few friends. They were asking each other what they’d learned during the week. Then, Scott started talking. He was saying things that were truly profound. He was filled with a joy that he did not understand. His face was glowing with a smile that’s hard to describe. Once in a while, he would look at the growing number of kids who’d gathered to listen, and grin, and shout, “I love Jesus!” He talked about having a bold faith, loving other’s, living for Christ. He talked about self image, the boundless, personal love that Jesus has for each of us, the joy that we should feel when we live IN Christ. Some girls started crying. He praised them for their tears and said, “You’re crying because you’re happy. Jesus loves that!” Then he began talking to individuals in the group now standing on tables around him. He pointed to kids and gave very personal prophecies. To a girl sitting across from him: “When you look in the mirror, you think you’re ugly. But, guess what? It doesn’t matter what you think! Jesus thinks your beautiful.” To an older boy standing on a table: “You can’t be proud anymore, because you know, now, that Jesus makes you everything you are. When you go to school, tell everyone about this. Tell them that Jesus loves them. You WILL be persecuted, but it won’t matter, because you know it’s true.”

I sat, literally, with my mouth agape, watching this video. For the first time, I had a perfect picture was what it was like to sit on a hillside outside of Jerusalem and listen to a simple-looking man speak directly into the heart of everyone present. Scott went on for over an hour and never stuttered once. By the time he was finished every kid in that pavilion had been touched by the words of God spoken through this normally timid young man. Bill told us that he had asked Scott and his parents to come watch the video. Scott confessed that he could not remember most of what he had said. “It wasn’t me talking.”

On the way home, God was talking to me too. I am ashamed of how I’ve wasted so much time on frivolity. I know that I’m human, and I can’t be perfect, but I can strive to be better. I can spend less time gaming and watching TV and more time reading and growing. I can spend less time arming myself to kill trolls or drive my truck over bigger rocks, and spend more time arming myself to do battle for God.

Jesus loves you and the only way that you can really love Him back is to make Him your number one priority. No two people have the same job to do in God’s kingdom. That means that if you don’t do the task God has put in front of you, no one else will.

That’s all I have to say about that.