I’ve never been the kind of person you’d look at and say… ‘Yup, he’s definitely Christian, I’d bet my life on it.’ No quite the contrary, people meet me and hear the way I talk, see the way I act, and I can bet you what they think is either how I’m the coolest person they ever met, or that I’m a sarcastic even sometimes cynical little punk. Even though I may not seem the good Christian, how would you know? I do admit that my relationship has never been anything more than what I thought it should be: the occasional good-luck prayer for myself, the eating of bread and drinking of wine (because I knew God wanted me well fed), praying along in church, and if I was able to stay awake, maybe even a scarce prayer before I slept. These of course were the usuals.

I viewed everything as being a joke and everyone was a stereotype. Now after attending Tirosh, my whole outlook has been changed. I no longer see people as being a nerd, punk, or whatever classifications there are. I realized not to stereotype people as soon as I came here. People I met that looked like they would be a preppy jock, were actually very funny and as far from athletic as possible.

I initially came to the Tirosh weekend, thinking of all the shows and activities I’d be missing because I just knew in the pit of my stomach that this would end up being another seemingly worthless church-camp. As fun as they were, I never got anything important out of them. Soon after I arrived I instantly realized how different it actually is from those other retreats. I came here having a shaky relationship with God and left having it transformed into a friendship and mentorship I never thought could exist. I can now see that he is in fact leading me towards what he determined to be the best-suited role for me in life.

I finally understand the real reasons for why we, as Christians do things. It was never the reasons my parents told me. I’d ask my dad why do we do communion, or why do we have to sing so much, and all he would say is “Because if you don’t do it you’re grounded.” My mother wasn’t much help either, I’d ask her questions and she’d tell me to go ask my father. I’m glad that I was able to come and learn about things such as prayer. Like how am I to know when to use it or how to use it. After that weekend I was able to begin answering my questions with better answers than mom and pop.

After hearing all of the experiences the leaders had, and hearing those experiences tied in with their faith, my eyes became opened. It made me wish that I could do something like this and open someone else’s eyes. I still have many questions, most of which I know never will be answered but a lot of them have now been answered.

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