Cant wait to kick it again!

Hey questies! I'm shane from stonewall session 7 of 09'. I've only posted on here once but would always love to read other questie's lessons and experiences. But since school got busy I started drifting away from here. I think God wanted to lead me back here so I decided to check out to see if things we're still going good on the blog. The last post was only 13 days ago and to think that everyone's almost made it a year staying connected is exciting. I will be returning to quest session 7 again this year and can't wait to reconnect with old questies! I hope this blog stays alive and we get a lot new bloggers throughout the summer. I plan to start posting more on here and contributing to our awesome quest community.

Can't wait to reunite with everyone and to kick it again!

God Bless,
Shane Steiner

The Message

I've been reading the Bible version called "The Message," and it has allowed me to see scripture in a new, modern way. I had found myself somewhat in a standstill with God's word, not reaping from it what I would expect, when I decided to check out this different version of the language of God. It has been blowing my mind. I love the way that it says things, so simply yet boldly and with strength. It penetrates my very soul. Thus, if anyone is feeling stagnancy with God's word, may I suggest to check out this version. It will rock your world.

It is funny how often I use things that I learned in Quest this past summer in my day to day life now. When I was abroad in Europe for a month, I had probably 5 or 6 spiritual conversations with non-believers, just travelers who I would meet and then they would ask me about my beliefs. It's funny how God prepared me for that time through my ministry at Sky Ranch. I used what I learned time and time again, and it was like God was recalling it all back to me...Behind Closed Doors helped not only you as campers, but me as a counselor. I wasn't aware of the best ways to talk to non-believers, atheists, agnostics, etc. until Quest. And it's just insane, because it works. Keeping a standpoint of being non-judgmental and just loving the heck out of people, for reasons they don't understand-- that love goes so far, it goes such a long way.

There is also a girl at work that I have befriended named Sarah. Her and I hang out once a week after our shifts and she is an agnostic/atheist/I'm not too sure what she labels herself, but she is a strong advocate of science and what science proves or says about our lives and how we are here, etc. It has been wonderful building a friendship with her, because genuinely I do care about her and enjoy her company. She is extremely bright, intelligent, and easy to talk to. We share life together and I also have the opportunity to love her and love on her and show her God's love without even talking about it. She and I had our first spiritual conversation 2 weeks ago after work, where she finally brought up dozens of questions she had for me and I found myself just fumbling for the answers and for the right things to say, when I just kind of stopped and realized that this was what we had prepared you guys for, this is what it's all about. It's about loving people through their disbelief, to continue to remain firm and confident in our faith but to show the other person love through our disagreement. The great thing about it is that afterward, she wasn't turned away. She thanked me for respecting her and said she looked forward to the next time we conversed about it. To me, this was a miracle-- that someone who questions everything about what I believe and who I am still wants to continue a friendship with me and also continue to talk about this issue.

But really, Quest changed my life. Last summer was epic. It not only brought me closer to Christ, not only allowed me to connect and build relationships with my flipping awesome co-counselors and campers, but it also taught me things. It taught ME how to read my Bible inductively. It taught ME how to evangelize or talk to non-believers about Jesus. It taught ME how to depend on the Lord with all that I have, when you're getting 5 hours of sleep a night and running rampant around a summer camp all day long. It taught me how to love better, how to find my identity in Christ, how to be secure as a woman of God, how to appreciate different parts of the Bible...so many things.

I am currently facing one of the hardest decisions of my life, whether to return to this place that changed my life last summer. If anyone still reads this, if anyone gets this at all, please say a prayer for me that God will direct my steps in His paths of righteousness.

Thank you, Quest, and thank you JESUS, for all you have done, for these kids, for me, for your Kingdom.