We first met Chase at Campus Life as a middle school student. When he entered high school his non-churched family life was being destroyed by alcohol, and he started to feel hopeless. Chase began escaping to other things to mask the pain in his life. As a freshman he was expelled from his high school and started a downward cycle.
We continued to stay in touch and would call him to check in when he stopped showing up to Campus Life.
His senior year we invited him to Camp and he said yes. We could see a change in his demeanor as he began seeking God to fill the hole inside of him. At Camp he asked God for forgiveness and rededicated his life. After camp, this was his post to all his friends on social media, sharing what God has done. “Thank you YFC for the amazing trip and always giving broken people like me a chance to meet Jesus. This trip has had a crazy impact on my life that words can’t explain. Thank you for helping people like me by welcoming people from all walks of life and working on bringing them to the Lord. As Psalm 34:18 says, ‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those that are crushed in Spirit…’, and that’s exactly what I experienced at Camp!”
Today, Chase is doing well and is enrolled in “Linemen College” pursuing a career in maintaining electrical power lines and serving as a first responder to restoring power when power lines are down.
Isn’t that just like our God to “restore” Chase’s life and story after a dark season, and now invite him to come alongside others when they’re in need?