This “I Believe”
I have many different beliefs. When first assigned this assignment on sharing our beliefs, I wrote many different essays not because I didn’t know what I believed in, but because I believe beliefs are very intimate and personal. Also, it is very easy to push your beliefs on to another unintentionally. Religion is my strongest most established belief. I believe in God, I believe in the Catholic Church, I believe in sin and repentance, I believe in life and death, heaven and hell. Not that I am a saint, I am a sinner. The important concept is I do God’s will and I am the very best Christian and person I can be. Part of God’s will is making sacrifices, to help others. As an avid member of the Church of St. Andrew’s and its youth ministry, I am very involved in community service and humanitarian projects. These projects are never easy, but the young people involved such as myself, have ways to make it fun; but it is anything but effortless. God’s own determination and power to influence others affects me, and gives me the strength to move on when I may be exhausted. Some projects I am involved in have allowed me to affect others in unimaginable ways. As part of a summer Youth Group Trip, I have traveled on a bus to Kentucky, and worked at a camp for the mentally disabled and blind. I built homes, dug trenches, burned more than three miles worth of forest, painted fences and met the townspeople. My inspiration for that trip was the owner and founder of “Christ’s Camp for the Blind”, Mike. Mike was blinded in a hunting accident, when he got hit by his best friend’s bullet. He has had numerous surgeries and is constantly in pain, but Mike is an example for us God’s entire gift of life. “God never gives you problems you can’t solve.” That quotation is something my Mom has taught me since I was very young and it is true. Mike cannot solve his problem of his blindness, but he is trying to teach and educate young children with similar disabilities. Knowing Mike and his family has truly made me a better individual and person. Also my Christian values and beliefs help me everyday and shape me into the person I am. My values as a polite, respectful, religious adolescent have helped me throughout my life, most frequently at my job in Chandler Hall Nursing and Retirement Home. At the retirement home, I often find myself praying for individuals who are in the hospice (where people get comfortable in preparation for death). Whether I know them personally or not. Everyone deserves a prayer, or at least a moment of silence or remembrance, for what they contributed to other people’s lives throughout their lifetime. Leaving something behind after I pass away is also important to me, which is instilled in me by doing God’s will while on earth. All my beliefs and my aspirations are intertwined in my belief in God, my belief in the Catholic Church, my belief in sin and repentance, my belief in life and death, and my belief in heaven and hell.