A Post-Creation Thought.

by Anna Webb

I was reading the blogs from this past week and I was reminded of this song. It is called ”My Home,” by Thousand Foot Krutch. I think it accurately describes the feeling that most of us (or maybe just I) get from Creation. So here goes:

My Home
by Thousand Foot Krutch

This place is many things, but i’d never call it home.
It’s just a building in a city,
everywhere I go.
This place is many things but i can’t call it home,
Home is the place you are, and I just wanna let you know
that i’ve done a few things i wasn’t proud of, 
I’ve said a few things that hurt you,
but you’re still the only one who fills me up,
and every night spent alone, was worth it.

You are my home,
You are my everything, when i feel so alone,
You are my home, you are my shelter,
when all my hope is gone

And i’ve seen many things
But they don’t look like home,
They’re just the bright lights from a city glowing all night long,
and ive seen many faces, but they all look the same,
Home is the place you are and i just wanna let you know,
that i’ve done a few things i wasn’t proud of,
I’ve said a few things that hurt you,
but you’re still the only one who fills me up,
and all the tears that we’ve shared were worth it.

You are my home,
you are my everything, when i feel so alone.
You are my home, you are my shelter
when all my hope is gone,
You are my home,
you are my everything, when i feel so alone.
You are my heart, you are the one.
when it all comes undone.

 

I always say that Creation is my home. But, honestly, the only reason I feel that way is because Creation is where I encounter Christ the most. And Christ is where my true home is. I just wanted to share that thought.

I love It Here!

By Megan Albertson

 

Second year at Creation, and it’s almost time to pack up and head out tomorrow morning. This year has been amazing just like last year.  Relient K was my favorite and will be my favorite band here this year. My next favorite band will have to be Family Force 5, who play tonight (Pit time)!

 

When you add Pennsylvania and West Virginia you get an amazing group, who never met each other, and then during the songs get so close that everyone ends up crying, hugging, dancing like idiots and don’t care what people see or say (yes I have to admit, that was me). I know that my blog isn’t very good as Anna’s, Alex’s, and Savannah’s, but its almost time for me to hit the woods for the seminar. 

 

But before I go I will encourage as many people to come to Creation as possible…it is soooooo much fun and to experience Jesus in this way is a reaction that can’t be explain very well. 

I LOVE CREATION!!!!

Here to blog, again

By Savannah O’Donohue

 

Here I am again, here to tell you how I feel. For a long time now I haven’t been telling people how I feel. I’ve been keeping to myself and keeping things to myself. This blogging thing helps with this problem I have. When something big happened in my life, I wouldn’t share it with the world. Well, this is my third year at creation, as I said before, and this is my most amazing year so far. I’ve decided I’m letting it all go. I’m giving my life to God. I’m letting go of my past. I’m not hiding my beliefs anymore.

 

This year at Creation, everyone’s let go. They’ve let there guards down. I’ve seen some of these people let their pain go and some of them break down. I’ve seen the strong and stubborn become the weak and easy. But I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean that as, they’ve finally let there feelings out. From my experience, letting your feelings out, becoming weak, becoming easy; makes you stronger. Don’t stay weak and easy. Just let it out. Just for the moment.

 

There is no other place I’ve been to in this entire world that has more love than Creation. Everyone here I can call my family. Everyone here I can talk to. Everyone here loves me for ME. They are my family. Every year we come “home” and update our PA friends with what has happened in the past year. We re-group and get ready to love. Love the Lord, love our family, and especially love ourselves. We’re here to praise the Heavenly Father and to be with one another. We do the crazy things like; dye your hair, get gross and nasty (not really by choice), wear awesome hats, and sweet bandanas. Things we don’t do when we’re home. We miss our family, but we don’t want to leave. I can’t stand the nasty, hot, dirty, gross, camping part. But I adore the  case of L-O-V-E that we all have. I absolutely love the closeness I have with the people here.  The people I only get to see  for five days a week. I love the kids here, the music I hear 24/7, the God I feel pulsing through my veins. Every time I life my arms to the heavens, I can feel God come from the tips of my fingers to the bottoms of my feet. It makes me smile with every fiber of my being. CREATION makes me smile with every fiber of my being. Everyone should join. It’s great fun, obviously.

Connection

by Alex Shaw

 

I have never been to creation before. This is my first year. So far i have had a complete blast. Relient K came and they are my favorite band. I love meeting new people, and there was a lot of that this week. Creation is a place where you can be as crazy as you want and no one will judge or criticize. I even dyed the tips of my hair green! Not only has creation been crazy fun, but this is the closest I think I have been to God. I feel a real connection now. I also feel a lot closer to the people in my youth group. We get so connected, we all group together and bawl our eyes out. We just hug, sway, and sing until it’s time to leave. We named it “the amoeba of love” (yes, I looked at Anna’s for the spelling). Last night (Friday night) was Candlelight and it was so beautiful. Everyone in the crowd had a lit candle and it was a sight to see! You couldn’t imagine how big the crowd was. I felt so connected, comfortable. The feeling I get is amazing when we are singing and praying to God. I realize now I can talk to him for anything. Not just to pray for me or for others, but to just talk about things that I might not want to share with everyone else. Creation is a very spiritual, moving experience filled with fun and excitement, but also some tears. Even though I love it here and am excited for Creation 2010 I do miss my family a little and I suppose I have to go home sometime…….

Moving

by Anna Webb

This is my fourth year at Creation. Every year something incredible has happened. This year has been the most moving so far. The most amazing part of my fourth Creation experience happened on Thursday night. Kids from both West Virginia and Pennsylvania joined together to worship with Chris Tomlin. We circled up together and let the spirit move us. We called our circle the “amoeba of love.” There was not a dry eye in the place.

 

Here at Creation, we are all a family. We bond together like you couldn’t imagine. When we come back to the farm every year, we pick up right where we left off the year before. There is no judgement between us. We are not afraid to cry in front of each other. We are not afraid to worship fully with each other. We are not afraid to give each other a shoulder to lean on. I have had a close relationship with most of the people here for years, yet every year it grows stronger.

 

We’ve also had some serious conversations this week. I have had friends admit to me that they have abused drugs, exploited themselves sexually, and even harmed themselves physically. Together, we’ve gotten through this by recognizing the power and love of Jesus Christ. The problems we have are serious. And sometimes, we feel like we have no one to turn to. Here, at Creation, there is an undeniable sense of community and family. Every tear that is shed is worth it, because we have people to help us through our problems. And we have Jesus to heal us.

 

Every person in this place has let go of their pasts. They have embraced Christ fully, and released everything that has been hurting them. I feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of such a spiritual experience. And I feel so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing home and an even better family here. I can’t wait for Creation 2010.

Something Special

by Josie Tomsik

Happiness is brought from experiences, sadness is also brought from experiences. What some don’t realize is that it’s possible for our experiences to bring happiness and sorrow. The IHS youth group are unbelievably close to each other, what i mean by that is that we aren’t “just friends”, i have never loved anyone more than my people of God. If your appalled that I just said i love someone more than my savior, you’re wrong. Jesus lives  in every one of us and i have been shown that this week. When a child like  myself opens their heart and accepts God, they see clearly for the first time. Suddenly things are right. Finally something is worth living for. There is an unbelievable difference between having God in your life, and being part of God’s life. You will ALWAYS be part of his, so why shouldn’t he be part of yours? People say, “Give Jesus the last part of your day by praying before bed.” Yes! you should pray before bed, but the LAST part of your day? Honest, you can do better than that. You are what Jesus spent his whole life saving  and all we give back is the last part of a day?  Think back to when you first noticed God in your life, you felt alive, right? You knew that someone was going to forgive you for lying, stealing, murdering. (okay, maybe you haven’t killed someone.) But God was there for you then and I promise he is still there for you now. I challenge you, look up Bob Lenz. Look up Greg Steir. I’m not just speaking to non believers or those struggling in their faith. I challenge every person who puts their eyes on my writing to look up those men. They will change your life forever. 

Blogger of the Lost

By Christine Sikorski

When I came to Creation I had two external motivators: Wade Baker and the ever-amazing Relient K.  Let me just put it this way, I’m getting more out of this trip than I signed up for, and honestly, I’m ok with that.   Up until now I’ve been holding in a lot of resentment and anger towards God.  I’ve been holding alot of self-doubt and confusion inside my head.  I had decided that being who I wanted to be was too difficult and that my mind was going to control me forever.  I was afraid of being lost forever. My questions were ‘How could God love me for all the horrible, horrible things I have done?” and “How can I stop making things difficult, loosen up, and be the person that God wants me to be?”.  I had been praying on-and-off for God to help me.  I had already told him I was broken, but I didn’t know where to go from there.  I was wandering, I was lost.  According to Bob Lenz, the word “lost” comes from the word “treasure”. Jesus loves the lost, the broken, and the sick.  He uses them to be the leaders of those that are stronger.  My changing moment at Creation was when I heard Joyce Meyers speak.  I had her books and I’d seen her shows, but I just wasn’t feeling the words that she was speaking.  Last night she spoke to the over-achiever in me, she said “You can’t do everything, but you can do something”.  My entire life I have tried to take on the world, but I had forgotten to help myself and love myself.  I was trying to be the person everyone else wanted me to be.  Last night, I asked myself the question, “What is there to not like about me, why am I so unhappy?” and it hit me, I’m not a bad person.  And at that moment, I realized that the shell of insecurity was beginning to crack.  I’ve heard is before and this time I’m going to give it a shot.  I’m going to go back to Williamstown and I am going to find myself through helping others.  I want to put smiles on people’s faces.  I want to live.  I want to be truly happy, and Jesus is going to fill the void in my soul.  

A note from Tom

By Tom O’Donohue (big O’D)

 

I want to leave the blogging up to the kids because I am a better talker then writer, plus they are more interesting than me.  Creation is the highlight of my year with the youth because God works so strongly during this time on the hearts of the youth.  I have seen breakthroughs that have changed the lives of the youth involved.  If you have supported us in this trip you should know that God is using you to make an impact for not only the Kingdom but you are making an impact on  the youth that God has put in our charge.  Lives are being changed here and God is moving in a powerful way with these kids.  I am blessed to have all of my kids here and wanted to thank all the people back home who are supporting us in prayer, it is a privilege to be prayed for and we can really see that hedge of protection around us.   God Bless You.

1st Year

By Brooke Cieslewski
Creation 2009 is my 1st year. So far it is amazing. I’ve made plenty of new friends and met some inspiring people. The bands are amazing, they pump me up or they just slow me down and help me realize things that are right in front of me and I never noticed before. This is the most spiritual guidance I’ve had (that I actually understand). The music really reaches me. The big reason I am blogging is because this helped me so much. It really made me understand that God is GREAT! He has done so much for me and has helped me and a lot of the time I don’t even bother to thank him. I know now, for sure, that Gos will always be there for me and by my side whenever I need him. I do suggest that you come to Creation because I hope that whatever happens to me will happen to you. God bless you.

Creation 2009, my third anniversary.

By: Savannah O’Donohue

 

Hey everybody! Savannah O’Donohue speaking here. Never blogged before, so bear with me on this. Creation 2009, in my opinion, has been the best year yet. Today is Thursday, day two of Creation. But technically the first real day of Creation. But let’s backtrack.

 

I never remembered how much I really miss this place until I come back. Every year I’ve always thought; “Do I really want to go this year?” But when I get here, those thoughts seem stupid. Even on the way here, with Catchphrase and Sing-a-longs being screamed out the window, I remembered how much this church family means to me. Well, you guys pretty much mean the world to me. It took forever to finally get inside, the  campsite was far away and really rocky (unfortunately for me, with my clumsyness), I still sat there and smiled. It wasn’t even a fake one! I missed the wide open field and all of the christians gathering  together, just to worship the Lord our Savior. I missed all of my PA buddies/extended church family. I met some new friends too. I learned some new games, and I got a new perspective on life.

 

When we were here on Wednsday, it was kinda slow. There was stuff to do and what not, but really there wasn’t anything going on with Creation. We pretty much just chilled. Which is cool, but I was ready to worship. When the night came around I was already thinking about my past. About things I had done in the past year, and people I’ve done things to. I felt terrible. But I trudged on to see Reggie Dabbs. Now, before I start this, I will tell you this, I have given my life to God. I did on February 2, 2008. But since then, a lot of things have happened to me that only my few close friends know about. I’ve kind of lost some of my faith. Now, Reggie Dabbs is a big and loud man. He’s just my kind of guy.When he started speaking, I could feel Christ just cascading out of every pore in his body. But I was still in another world. Thinking about other things. Bad things. Good things. Anything. Finally I started to keep up. I jumped in right on time, he was saying stuff like; “I can” “You can” “We can” and “I got your back.” But honestly, I didn’t get it. For months, no one had my back, why would someone now? He kept going when it finally hit me. I was thinking this exact thing; “Even for Jesus, who can forgive me for the things I’ve done? Who could just forget it all and move one? Nobody. I’m just stuck with this, everyone will find out and hate me. All h*ll will break loose.” Then Reggie said it. God. God can forgive me. God can help me. God can make me better. He gave up everything, for ME. ME. When Jesus took his last breath and said; “It is done,” it had just started. He had started a new beginning for all of us. So, at the moment when Reggie told us that if we needed to give our lives to Christ, or ever just renew our love for him, to stand up and go to the prayer tent. It took everything I had not to run through the crowds of people and slam onto my knees begging the lord for his forgiveness. That night changed my life. I was okay. I was finally okay, again. My life is for the Lord. No one else. Nothing else. All I could think was; “I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.” It wasn’t to reassure myself, I really felt, okay. I felt complete for the first time in months. 

 

Later that night I got to see Skillet and Relient K. If you don’t know them, look them up. They’re pretty amazing. They did a fantastic show. After that we went back to camp and I pretty much just passed out. I guess I win.

 

Now it’s Thursday and so far I haven’t done much. Pretty much just chilling with the family and what not. Got some abortion stuff and some pretty sweet buttons. They’re fly, like me. Tonight’s communion, so that’ll be awesome. Well, everything at Creation is awesome.

 

Everyone should have this Creation experience. Come and if you don’t like it, don’t come back. But I haven’t seen that happen yet. But that’s just me.

 

P.S. – Sorry this is so long, I kind of talk a lot. I get it from my dad. Blame him for your dried out eyes.