My God-Story is what by some accounts may seem very simple. I was raised catholic, and attended catholic school through 8th grade. During high school, I began to question what the meaning behind all the rules and requirements were- as any typical adolescent would do. Sing it louder to show you're prouder was the only thing I learned in 8 years of catholic school. Repeat after everone else, dress sharp, and pick up hot ham and rolls on the way home to watch the football games on Sundays. The only problem I had was that the more I started to ask about 'church', the more I received the same answers that were somewhere between, 'because God said so' and 'that's just the way it is'. Needless to say, this didn't sit well with me. Over the next several years I was driven away from the very concept of religion in general. I had taken a World Religions class in college several years later, and approached it with a closed mind and a highly skeptical approach to understaning. I was much more focused on why one version of the teachings referenced 5,000 troops, and the other referenced 10,000 for the same historical incident. How there could be so many discrepencies about the same events taking place depending on the version you happen to buy. Why I needed to listen to someone who paid to go to school and wear a traditional outfit, doing the same traditional thing every Sunday had any right to tell me what the readings should mean to me. Here's where the simplicity comes in...

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I would only like to remain anonymous to protect my brother. When he's ready, he will share. On December 23, 2011 my brother came back into my life. He did not have any family contact for many years. He is the youngest of 7 and it felt like our little brother was lost forever. When you don’t know the whereabouts of a loved one, it is amazing how many times you look twice at a stranger. My husband and I were coming back from errands, errands that I did not want to do, I thought I saw someone that looked like my brother so I asked him to go back around so I could look again. He replied by saying that I thought every homeless person we pass I think is my brother. I responded with, if it was your brother, would you go around? He did not say another word and went around the block. Still not sure, we drove a little closer for a 3rd look. We decided to give the person in question some money and say Merry Christmas, just to get an even closer look. The man was my brother, homeless for about 18 months. He is a survivor. Anyway, his life is his story to tell. Here is my God story...

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6 Months ago my life was not worth living. I was literally in hell and somehow God reached down and touched my heart. I was living in Pensacola, Fl and some lady from my local church stopped into my store frequently inviting me to attend church. Her persistance paid off and I finally attended a singles group and met a lot of great friends. I got to the point where I got baptized and let the Lord into my life. 1 Month later my brother passed away at 36 years of age. I was in shock and didn't know how I was gonna make it home to put him to rest? My community group stepped it up and helped pay for my ticket, watched my house, and took care of my dog, they even took me to the airport and picked me up when I returned. God is great, they helped me when I needed it the most and showed me what a church group was for. When I returned back to FL I re evaluated my life and prayed and made the decision to come home, I learned life was too short to be away from my family, let alone I hadn't made peace with my brother whom as well as my family I hadn't seen in 5 years...

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For over ten years I have been in some way involved in a home based bible study or community group. A good deal of that time I have been in  leadership or some type of facilitating role. For the past six weeks I have had the pleasure of facilitating a community group as we have journied through the" Not a Fan" series. It has been one of the most remarkable and challenging studies I have ever witnessed. This series has challenged me, and I believe everyone else that has attended to really start to examine exactly what this "christianity" thing is all about. Are we merely fans in the bleachers filling out a scorecard, or are we in the game? We have had an unbelievable amount of participation, and no doubt the Holy Spirit has moved in the midst of this group. The ultimate validation of what God has done in one of the lives of someone who has been attending is that they made a decision, and now want to be baptized at our next community group night. Praise God!!!

I'm 14 and I went to UCYC camp a few weekends ago. That camp completely turned my life around, I was amazed that I acctually had a good time and didn't want to come home. Ever since UCYC i feel much more spiritually connected with God, and the ministry there I felt did a very well job at relating to a younger group of people. For a long time now I've been working on some things, but now I feel like UCYC was the boost that I needed to overcome them. The past year of my life has been truly amazing I moved home from California which is a huge blessing for me, my moms getting married and she's happy which just makes me estatic, and I feel like I am a completely different person than I was a year ago. The ironic part is that I went to a christian school for the last four years of my life, but it's not until recently that I feel like I'm acctually a follower of Christ. I'm so thankful for how much God has done in my life over the last year, I'm truly blessed and it breaks my heart that some people can't experiance the love I share with Christ.