Before this final High School summer begins, I want to include some posts about last summer, so far the most memorable summer of my life. The essay in this post, and the next one following are about that summer.

TRUTH
“Not to worry, you will definitely get a chance to see the stars by the end of this week,” my counselor assured me. With just one night remaining in our weeklong stay at Wildwood Christian Youth Leadership Camp, I dozed on the bottom bunk in the warm platform tent, remembering the rain that poured down on us the night before. In four short days, I had ridden a bike up a mountain, and fallen only once at the very bottom after a high-speed race back down. I had jumped over logs taller than myself without even brushing it with my toes. I learned what it meant to be passionate about trusting in God’s plan, but I still wanted to see the stars. Disappointed that the best week of my summer was coming to a close, I did not suspect that the most memorable event was yet to come.
The last night, as we gathered across the lake in a secluded clearing to reflect on our week , we were again assured that no matter what the weather had been during the day, the stars had always shined down on the campers’ final night. We huddled in a giant circle, our only light a battery-powered lantern in the middle of the clearing. As I left the small patch of lantern-light with the rest of my roommates, fiddling with the red bracelets that served as a symbol of our experience, thunder cracked overhead. Our leaders hurried us through the rest of the humble ceremony and ushered us into the rowboats, instructing us to get across the lake as quickly as possible, because lighting was just over the next ridge.
They must have been kidding themselves, because I could see the lighting in the sky as we headed for the opposite shore. We were insane, to be splashing across the lake in these tin can targets for static electricity. I prepared to die as we reached the middle of the lake and the lighting drew closer. It was then that I took the time to look up at the sky. If the stars weren’t going to show themselves in my last moments, I might as well see a good light show.
And there in the sky, with only the adrenaline-surged campers for its audience, unfolded the most spectacular light show I had ever witnessed. Scattered clouds not only had silver linings, but illuminated with blue, purple, and gold as lightning bounced off the mountaintops. Between these bursts of light in the breaks of the clouds, the stars shone the brightest they had ever shone in their entire existence. All this beautiful, glowing chaos reminded me of the big posters of nebulas and galaxies that were stuck to the walls of the biology classroom.
But this wasn’t some outer-space video, this was real, and for just a few moments, I found myself huddled alone in that vulnerable position with the most peaceful solitude I had ever experienced. No teachings that week gave definite direction, no team-building challenges revealed the answers, and no time alone showed me reality. It was there, at the mercy of the lightning that burst in the sky above me, where, even if for just a few moments, I understood Truth.