Growing up, I was always like the "perfect kid." I always tried my best to follow the rules, be good in school, and honestly I thought I had it all together. But as I started to mature, there was always this anxious feeling- this pressure to be perfect. If I said a bad thing, I thought my world was gonna crumble. If I had a sinful thought or got in the wrong crowd for a moment, I thought my life was over. At the time, I believed that God was real. I claimed to be a Christian, and yet I still thought I could be righteous on my own. I had this idea that I had to be good enough to get into heaven. But every time I saw those ten commandments and looked back at my life, I knew I could never make the cut! So I tried finding my identity in worldly things. I thought that if I was known for something unique, then everything would be okay. I was searching for who I am, but I was looking in the wrong places. About a year ago, my church hired a new youth pastor. I thought he was cool and all, but something was different about that dude. He always wanted to make sure I was okay, and would hang out with me once in a while to study the Bible with me. I saw that my youth pastor was demonstrating true discipleship- investing in people to encourage them, build them up, and to turn them to Christ. That's something I had never really seen before. Later in the summer, I decided to rededicate my life to Jesus through baptism! I had finally learned one night at church camp that truly, we all have a mess in our life. We can't fix it all on our own, we need Christ in our lives to have righteousness. And His plan for us is a billion times better than our own. To put it simply, I learned to put my trust in my Savior! So what does FCA have to do with any of this? When the school year started up, I wanted opportunities to minister to others at school. That's when I found our small local FCA group hosting weekly meetings where we share testimonies and words of encouragement. I used the opportunity to start a new Bible study ministry in the school under the FCA name! We had some roadblocks with the administration, but God is good! Now, we have many new students enthusiastic for this new year of ministry. - Cannon L., FCA Student Huddle Leader

Mark 1:35