And on the eighth day, The Lord made a little place called Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. He spent a little extra time on this place, giving it mountains, lakes, and oh so many God loving spirits that reside in this place. You won’t understand what I’m talking about unless you’ve experienced a place like Lake J, which is impossible because there's no other place quite like it.

Four years ago, I took a little weekend getaway trip with my church youth group, little did I know that that little mountain town would become my safe haven. I continued to go back to this place for the next four years of high school, winter and summer. Eventually, I was able to call this place my home. I was offered a job as a camp counselor and moved 400 miles away from everything I knew, simply at the age of eighteen. I got there and everything immediately felt right, I was finally home.

They say once you love a place, you never really leave, your heart stays there, forever. And that is exactly what happened here. I never left Lake Junaluska, my heart has been here since I was a little freshman in high school, and I never got it back. I have made some of my best friends and the most amazing people here at this place, not even to mention all of the kids I bonded with over the months of camp after camp.

The thing is, the minute that you step onto Lake Junaluska property, you feel the love and compassion for Christ, and it’s contagious. I have seen the most broken people step foot on this mountain and immediately their lives are changed. Youth leaders always try and thank us when they have a child that they have been working on, leading them to The Lord for so long, that finally gives everything to God. The thing is, it’s not us who made them do it, it’s not us that changed their minds, but the presence of God in this sacred place.

I get chills thinking about my home back in Carolina, writing this article now, 4,225 miles away. By the time that this is published, I will be back in my home. In fact, I’m probably on stage now dancing to some silly camp song. In saying this, I ask you to pray for these kids here this week, and for the next few months. I also ask that you pray for us counselors, that we have enough of in our cups to pour into these kids, and that The Lord continues to fill our cups as well. God is doing amazing things on this mountain, I can tell you that for sure!!