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"I'd like to talk to you about living more fully for Christ," the worship leader told the crowd at our youth group retreat.

As he continued, his words hit me pretty hard. Even though I was a Christian, I hadn't been doing a very good job of living like one. As he spoke about living for Jesus, I felt guiltier and guiltier—and knew something had to change.

I'd come to the retreat just to hang out with my friends. But suddenly, it felt like God was speaking to me through the speaker.

Just a couple of days earlier, I'd been hanging out with my buddies from school when Brad* brought out the beer. I usually did my best to stay home when I knew they would be drinking, but I was tired of being left out. So I drank with them. It was a one-time deal, and I didn't even like it.  But I knew I had really messed up by going along with my friends.

"The cross is not a symbol," the speaker continued, grabbing my attention again. "It is something you should live by."

Those words really made me think. It was easy for me to be a "good" Christian by doing things like going to church every Sunday. But during the week, following God wasn't my priority. I wanted the fact that I was a Christian to mean something—to set me apart and make me different. But I wasn't sure how to do that until the speaker asked us all to bow our heads and shut our eyes.

"If you want to give your life to Christ," he said softly, "please stand up."

Without hesitating, I jumped out of my seat. Even though I'd asked Jesus into my heart as a little kid, I never put Christ at the center of my life. I knew right then I wanted to make him my top priority.

After the service wrapped up, I walked back to my room with Jon, my youth pastor.

"I want people to know who I am," I told him excitedly. "I want people to know I'm a Christian."

"Tonight you made a decision to keep on the path," Jon said. "I'm going to pray that even though you might mess up, you'll always get right back on the path."

 I talked to Jon until three o'clock in the morning. I even told him about the night I drank. Jon was pretty understanding, but he encouraged me to tell my parents. He also said that if a situation like that ever came up again, I should call him and he'd come and get me.

"It's easy to get on fire for Christ during a week like this," Jon said. "I'm praying that this fire won't go out once you go back home."

As soon as I got home, I told my parents about the night I drank. It wasn't easy, and they were super disappointed with me, but they did help me make some changes in my life. They encouraged me to stop hanging out with my friends who drink and start spending more time with my friends from youth group. I had no problem taking their advice.

My fire for Christ didn't go out either. I jumped at every opportunity to talk about God. I even asked my cross-country coach if I could lead a team prayer before a meet. It wasn't easy praying or talking about Christ in front of a bunch of people. But I'm proud to tell others that I'm a Christian. And I'm also proud that there's something really different about me.

Before he graduated, Scott combined his love of service and running by organizing a 5K memorial run in honor of a classmate who died of muscular dystrophy.

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Ignite Your Faith magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Ignite Your Faith.

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