Hi, I'm Eliot Stewart. I'm 17. I go to Conestoga Valley.

I was born and raised in a Christian home while attending church regularly every Sunday since about age one. Growing up, I didn't necessarily enjoy church, as it just seemed like an addition to school, just with a different teaching.

Once I reached about seventh grade, everything seemed a bit more useful to me. This was when I joined crossover and started learning more about Bible stories. Crossover taught me more than just the timeline of stories and more about what the life of Jesus meant. 

At the time, Jesus was just another character in the Bible with a bit more power and meaning than others. After the first two years in middle school, learning from crossover teachings, I had become more informed of the good news. I learned more about Jesus and who he was. I learned about the power he had in our lives and what it meant. Although it wasn't until about the end of my eighth grade year when me and my middle school crossover leader, Tyler Morris, had a small conversation where he noticed my connection with the teaching.

I had said during our talk how it felt like I've learned everything about Christ and that there's not much more to learn about. That's when he said to me, "It's time you put your faith in him." And it was during that time we prayed and proclaimed Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Although I had put my trust in him and proclaimed my belief, I still didn't quite understand Jesus' love as a relationship. I had believed the stories and believed in the crucifixion, but I didn't think much more. I never really read my Bible or participated in church. I had only believed what I learned. This was most likely because of how I put my trust and validation in the world. I did many things to gain trust from others or to gain happiness from a compliment. It was a life of pride, and it didn't go well.

As this failed to make me happy, I kept trying and trying, not realizing I'd gain joy from Jesus.

Fast forward to my 11th grade year of high school this year. So much has happened. My spiritual life has grown so much, guiding my personal life to the right spot. More and more I've learned about Jesus and the plans he has for me. He has shown so many great things to me throughout time. The love he has had for us has been proven to me through countless encounters and interactions, such as moments of peace when all I felt was chaos.

There were times where I felt like there was no escape, but through the work of Christ, I was able to see the good. And through those, I've been able to relate to Jesus more and think less of him as a teaching to memorize.

My life as a believer is now a relationship and not a chore. Reading my Bible is not the time of the day where I get to hear the wisest words written, the words written by my Savior, the words that decide how my life goes.

I want to get baptized today to proclaim that I have felt the love of Jesus and that I gave up my ways to follow him. I just wanted to quote some lyrics from a song I love. It's the chorus of I Thank God: "He picked me up, he turned me around, he placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, because he healed my heart, he changed my name, forever free, I am not the same. I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, I thank God."