"Be the CHANGE you wish to see in the world..."

Today was a day where i got to miss the ENTIRE day of school and go across the road from Penn, to the church, River Valley for this Challenge day thing. Of course I was excited I got to miss the entire day of school, but I figured this was just going to be one of Penn's cheesy, stupid ways to "stop bullying" and I knew it would probabaly fail, just like all the others do. I walked over with three of my best friends, Heather, Eden and Bentley, so I knew I would have a least a little fun. I really had NO idea what I was about to experience...

We first walked into the gymnasium, with loud rap music playing and about 20 adults making a tunnel just like us counselors do at camp, it was sweet! These adults varied BIG TIME. Our principal was there, plus 3 deans from Penn, then 4 counselors, 2 police officers, 2 pastors, a few teachers from Penn, and finally some parents. I had no idea what to expect from this whole thing. We were then greeted by two very upbeat, crazy individuals. Chris and Berneice were their names, and they were the two Challenge Day Directors we had. The first thing they had us do when we got in there was dance...ALOT. I was in SHOCK, to see some of the most serious people and adults I know, bustin' a move! So I went right with it and joined them. They played all sorts of music, and irronically enough, they played EVERY SINGLE song we play to dance to at Camp Adventure. I'm talking Jump Around, The train song, Apache, Cupid Shuffle, everything. So I immediately turned to Heather and told her this was just like CAMP!!! (Which gave us both more of an open mind about this thing.) So we continued on in the morning with all sort of cheesy, but surprisingly fun "get-to know you" games, and ALOT more dancing.

After lunch came the serious stuff. We were put into groups of about 5, plus one adult leader. They were called our "families" and we were to be spending most of the rest of the day with them. They made it a point to mix up genders, and make sure there were no friends in the group, so everyone would get the same experience. Chris & Berneice then told us their stories. They told us their struggles, their feelings they keep inside, and all about who they really are. Then they opened it up to us, and we were instructed to share with our "family" who we REALLY are and the struggles/experience we go through, being us. We each had to start with this sentence... "If only you knew who I really was, you would know that..." and then we were to continue on. Every person in my group had a different story. One was about divorced parents, one was about jugdments by not only friends by parents, another about growing up in the projects and watching gang violence. Each one was so incredibly different from my story. I grew up in a great home, with 2 parents who love eachother and me, and with an amazing older sister who is always there for me. At first I felt like my story wasn't important because it wasn't dramatic or hard, but my adult leader, who was a youth pastor, encouraged me that my story is just as important than any other person in the room.

After some long talks, which lead to a whole bunch of tears with our "families" we came back together as a whole group. We were about to play "Power Shuffle." What we had to do was, if something that was said, applied to us, then we had to the move across the line to the other side. Berneice gave us all sorts of things like... "if your parents are divorced"... "if you have ever been made fun of because of your body"..."if you have ever had lost someone to gang violence"..."if you know someone close to you who is homosexual"...and the most powerful one, "if you were ever able to just be a child." We did this for about 30 minutes. Whenever someone moved or shared anything everyone put up the "I Love You" hand signal, to let the person know we were listening and respecting them. The most remarkable thing to me was how little I knew about some people I considered my friends. Or how easily I had judged people based on whatever, and to see how wrong I was.

I went into this thing thinking it was going to be some dumb thing no one took seriously. Throughout the day I saw people who were the "cool" or "popular" guys crying their eyes out. Some guys I thought were real "tough" and "intimidating" apologizing to their best friends. I saw countless guys crying and hugging other guys, while talking about their feelings. I saw ex-friends become friends agian. I saw "bullies" apologizing to their "victims" and all of this was voluntary. I left today looking at my school, and the people in it in a completely different way. The very last thing we did was hear from our peers, on the microphone. We heard from about 50 students (which is more than half that was there) about promises they were going to make, steps they were going to take, apologies that needed to be made, compliments that were well deserved and just the TRUTH about that person.

This was one of the most inspiring things I have ever been apart of before. I saw people change their lives just because of things that were said or confessed today. People I used to judge, I now look at for who they really are, instead of making assumptions. Today made me appreciate my loving, caring and AMAZING parents. It made me really appreciate my big sister, who I used to take for granted. It made me take a good long look at my "best friends" and see how truly blessed I am. When we were finished, I took a minute to bow my head and thank God for everything he has blessed me with. I thanked him for today and what Challenge Day did to Penn High students. Most importantly, I thanked him for being in that room today. Even though his name may not have been mentioned much, the stuff that happened today were acts from our Lord and Savior. Praise The Lord!

We all made sperate committments today. Some of mine were to stop and meet someone instead of judging who you think they might be. Be appreciative of all that i have. Tell everyone important to me how much they mean to me all the time, before it's too late. Finally, to be the CHANGE I wish to see in this world!

If you want to check our more of Challenge Day, go to... www.challengeday.org

"For I know the plans I have made for you..."

I love how unpredictable God can be. I have thought that a few things in my life are for sure, and were always going to stay the same. It always seems, as soon as I get comfortable, God changes it just to get me out of my box. It's frustrating at times, but I'm learning to get used to these changes. I'm learning to let go of trying to control my own life and my future. It's in God's hands. He knows what is best for me, even better then I do. "I'm trusting in what you say, today is the day."