Hello my name is Kevin and I am currently working for Catholic Christian Outreach this year in Halifax. I want to share with you a bit about how the Lord has made an impact in my life. To start off, I grew up in a stereotypical Catholic family with five kids. I ended up being the lucky middle child, with two younger brothers and two older sisters. My parents brought me to church every Sunday, we were instructed to pray before every meal, and we would pray the Rosary as a family every night. This is how most of my childhood and early youth was like.

As I entered junior high my life took a bit a turn. I had experienced a lot of bullying and peer harassment through these few years which changed my perspective on life drastically. I left these two years feeling completely abandoned by God and very insecure about my identity. I told myself that if God was really merciful and loving like my parents had taught me, then he would have caused this pain and persecution to stop. At this point in my life I had come to the conclusion that God didn’t exist and if he did, he didn’t love me. I stopped praying all together and instead of asking God for help and strength I just felt self-pity and shame. Through the rest of high school I had many deep wounds inside of me which I didn’t know how to deal with.

When I graduated from high school I got accepted to a Catholic college. This college generally had a good influence on me. I witnessed what it was like to have friends who didn’t judge me, but loved me for who I am. About half way through the year a good friend of mine who I lived with died tragically when he was in a car that went through the ice in a lake. This was a devastating event for me! I didn’t understand why an innocent person like that would instantly have their life taken away. I was also in shock because earlier that day he had asked me to join him on the trip. If I had gone with him I would have died as well. This caused me to seriously rethink my life, since it could end in a flash. Before this experience I was living my life, but I took it for granted not realizing how precious and short it really is. I felt the need to take my life more seriously and make some changes for the better.

The following year two of my friends asked me to go to a Christmas conference with them in Toronto called Rise Up. I didn’t really know what it was all about but I decided to tag along with them anyway. While I was there I felt kind of out of place and I didn’t really know what to expect. For the first day and a bit I enjoyed listening to the upbeat music and hanging out with people downtown on our breaks. I thought the conference was pretty cool and I was kind of bought in. On day three I was sitting in the conference room listening to a talk by the founder of CCO, Andre Regnier, when all of a sudden he caught my attention. He asked us a very personal question, “Does your life revolve around Jesus or does it revolve around you?” I pondered on this question for a while. I had never really been challenged in my faith that way before. I eventually came the realization that my life did revolve around me and that Jesus was only an aspect in it. I felt really unsettled about this reality.   Then Andre asked us, “Would you like to make Jesus the center of your life?” At this point deep within me I really did want to say yes, but I was scared to make this kind of commitment. Following these questions Andre gave us the opportunity to give our lives to Christ and trust in His mercy. Finally I took a leap in faith and I said yes. For the first time in my life I made an adult decision to give my life to Christ and I made Him the center of it. Immediately I felt this overwhelming joy deep within my heart. I had never felt this way before. I knew that God loved me! I felt that He was revealing to me that my identity was in Him, and that I should always place my trust in His mercy.

Following this conference I had this yearning to learn more and more about what I believe in and to be around other people who shared this same belief. A few months later I went on a CCO summer mission called Impact where I really learned what it is like to be Catholic and witness to others about God’s love for us. Whenever I feel distant from God or guilty about my sinful actions I have to remind myself to place my trust in his mercy and forgiveness. I would like to challenge each one of you to also place your trust in the Lord. You are all His Children and He loves each one of you dearly.