Hello, my name is Lucas Pender and this is my first year at Camp TED. I’m 15 years old and live outside of Boston, Massachusetts. I grew up in a Christian home and always knew about Jesus or at least heard His name. I always went to church on Sundays, prayed to God, and knew all the answers in Sunday school. I remember my Sunday school teacher teaching us about heaven and hell and I knew for a fact that I did not want to go to hell, so I decided to get baptized. After church that day I ran to my pastor and asked earnestly for him to baptize me.
I was baptized at six years old but still had a childlike faith and that faith gradually faded. Something was just not there. I kept walking through the motions pretending that I was a true son of God and had an intimate relationship with Him. Well I didn’t and that kind of scared me off from ever really trying to get one. There were plenty of moments where I tried to rededicate myself to Christ and each time I thought that this was going to be the day that I truly become a child of the one true King. Each time I was disappointed to find out that nothing had changed. I started blaming God for this because I was mad at Him for not changing anything.
I was in church one day and the pastor was talking about having a relationship with God. I tuned in for that service and I am glad that I did. He told the congregation that we had to initiate the relationship and that it was up to us to start listening for God’s response. That totally changed my perspective of what being a child of God means.
It is not just a long distance say hello every once in a while relationship, it is a personal relationship like one with a close friend. Over the past couple of years I have tried to make my relationship with God stronger. And don’t get me wrong there were plenty of hiccups along the way. But, God has placed amazing people in my life to help me stay on the right path. Though I know that God has so much more in store for me and there will be more hiccups to come. In the end he will always love me and try with all His might to keep me His. Thank you.