Inscription of Hope

Have you ever had that feeling where all you want to do is ask for forgiveness? You want to get on your knees and weep for every little sin you have ever caused. You want to ask the lord why oh why you love me so. I have done nothing to deserve this. You almost want him to punish you. But then you remember Jesus died for you and you cry harder. Have you ever had that feeling? The feeling of being saved? If not you should have it because there's nothing like it. This last weekend I went to Northland Baptist College in Dunbar Wisconsin. It was the experience of a lifetime. There were around 130 campers. Most of them from the Midwest but some were from Louisiana also. They were all there. To HEAR the word of god spoken to them for them. Some came, true, just to get out of school or because their parents forced them. But most, yes MOST, came because they worship and LOVE God. You of course had your girls that were oh way to cool to be there. Then there are the guys who have to show off in front of everybody. But that is only maybe a 1/100 of the people there. Everyone else was so nice. People were happy, laughing, talking, joking, singing, praising the lord. All together. Just to be there for HIM. I had the privilege of hearing Evangelist Jeremy Frazor speak to us. He gave us 4 messages in the course of two days only. They were amazing. I felt myself drawn and sucking in every word he said. He spoke of sin, adultery, pride, parents, God, Jesus, love, lust, commitment, safety. All of it. I was almost brought to tears by his word. Many of the things he said felt as if they were pointed directly at me. He wasn't just TELLING us that we needed to be saved, no no, he in fact SAVED more than half of the group there. Even after the first night there was a major difference in the amount of people gossiping. Almost everyone became friends. I had a little bit of a hard time with my cabin because I admit, my biggest sin is my pride. I won't take people crap even if I deserve it. I am who I am and I know it. I won't be lied too or lie about it. That's not always a good thing. Another thing is that I often criticize people. I'm trying hard to stop. Some things went on in my cabin that just made me extremely uncomfortable and kind of disgusted but I had to remind myself that these girls were my sisters and we were all here together to worship God. Not only that, but they needed my prayers. I don't know if all the girls in my cabin were saved but I prayed for them every night we were there. I prayed and I cried and I asked the lord to help me to help them so that they could be put on the path of righteousness.

On other parts of the weekend, we didn't spend the whole time in worship. There were a lot of things that went on. The entire group was divided into two groups, red endurance and blue Polaris. I was red along with Beth and Mitchell, two others from our church. I am happy to say the red team won the competition. The first day, Thursday night, me and Beth didn't really reach out to anyone we were still getting comfortable and trying hard to fit in. We got along with two girls in our cabin really well, Casey and Becca. Well at the first service on Friday we had greeting time. We both turned around to find a bunch of guys with their hands stuck out and all yelling out names. The two we really talked to were Isaac and Dil, two boys from Louisiana. Beth wanted to talk to them to get her accent back. I wanted to just because I love anyone with an accent it’s so cute. :] Our counselor wanted us to all tell her about our life stories. Beth and I went to see her at the small coffee shop on campus. When we were done she bought us drinks and as were about to leave Isaac came up to us with Dil and they were on the way to the tubing hill. We stood there talking bout about an hour or so then they wanted to play snow football. We walked outside and held their stuff for them, which all included two pairs of sunglasses, a book, a program, and a frappucino Reeses. We stood there for well over an hour watching them play in the frozen tundra. Then it got so cold we had to go in. We set their stuff down where it'd be safe and ran into the dorms where it'd be nice. By then we had acquired Beth's twin sisters Jessica and Jennifer and their friends Sara and Tess. We talked then we went to go see if they were still playing where we ran into Isaac again. We had to go eat then but we met up with them again after words to just hang out for maybe 15 minutes before the service where we all just passed secret glances back and forth before being entirely sucked into the sermon. After we had about 3 hours of free time (it was around 7) so we all (me, Beth, Isaac, Dil, Jessica, Jennifer, Sara, Tess, Brandon, Mitchell, jay, and Katy) went to the tubing hill to go in the dark. That was cold!! But we managed to make it, a couple times linked holding hands where all the girls laughed and giggled at holding a guy’s hand, a few times just alone. We then had to quick change to warm clothes and go to the gym for a game. The red guys sat by us and the blue had to leave us. We then had to go through a sort of obstacle course. The first part was just dodging flying tennis balls (if you got hit you start over), after that you had to run around some wrestlers that had to tackle you to the ground but if you got past you went to a balance beam where you had to try and dodge these HUGE inflatable beach balls that were flying at you while not falling. After that it was just easy stuff. I made it through once, which is more than I can say for the guys of course. Beth made it through twice. Then we sat on the ground (around 11:30) and watched videos while eating Arbys food. We then RACED back to our cabins (after promising the guys that we'd all take pictures together tomorrow) to quick change before bed. Once there our counselor prayed over us, almost crying over her love for us. We then slept. Today after waking up around 6 we were in the cabin until 9. It had snowed over night throwing the camp into a panic and the day shortened considerably. We ate and found the guys then talked and goofed around a little. Then to the service. The Evangelist was riding home with us so we didn't have to leave right away. The guys on the other hand had to leave immediately for their 25 hour trip. We got one final wave as the van whipped around the corner and then we left. Mostly on the way home we were talking to Mr. Frazor and his friend Joe Kopp about accents. We kept making each other say random words to see how we said it. Finally I'm home. It was altogether an exciting weekend and I can't wait to see if I can make enough money to go for summer camp. It would a lot of fun. I'm going to ask Pastor Wagner if I can get a copy of the MP3 of Mr. Frazor speaking so I'll be able to listen again and again because he really did help me.

I'm not going to go and find the lyrics or a video to a song I'm just going to type the lyrics here.
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining
And I believe in love even when theirs no one there.
And I believe in god even when he is silent
I believe through any trial, there is always a way.
But sometimes in this suffering and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter and hope someone’s there
But a voice rises within me saying hold on my child
I'll give you strength I'll give you hope
Just stay a little while.
May there someday be sunshine
May there some day be happiness
May there someday be love
.....May there some day......
Be peace.
The song is called inscription of hope by Dr. Z. Randall Stroope. Mr. Stroope asks that whenever this piece is performed the following Paragraph is read allowed for the audience so they are able to understand the significance of the text.
The Holocaust is a stunning reminder of the tragic results of prejudice and hate toward other people. But it is also a reminder that hope held firm will eventually reign victorious over the greatest of odds. The following words were inscribed on the walls of a cellar in Cologne, Germany, where Jews were hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Hope was all they had to hold on to; hope was their only bridge to a brighter tomorrow.
I'm singing this song as a duet with another girl in my class and it really did inspire me so I am putting it here in hopes that it will make you think, and love and be maybe just a bit more grateful for the life we have today. How blessed we are to not having gone through anything of the sort. We have God to thank for that.