Ian (aka Star Lord) - Living outside his comfort zone

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Thank you Young Life Topeka for this great story!

Ian struggles with anything new or out of his comfort zone.  He found the courage to come to Capernaum Club and grew comfortable enough to sign up for camp.  Ian and his parents were one of the first families to arrive at the bus to leave for camp, but Ian was one of the last campers to load. 

His area had an incredible group of young men that came alongside the campers as buddies. One of Ian’s leaders had a buddy head over to help comfort and reassure Ian about the bus ride and the awesome week ahead. 

Just a little background on Ian:  At school, Ian is practically paralyzed when asked to answer a question or stand in front of the class.   He has fears of making mistakes, being "stupid" or others making fun of him. When he joined the Unified Special Olympics basketball team he would not come onto the court for the first two practices because of these fears.

Camp changed Ian's life, the cabin full of friends and buddies changed Ian's life.  God had a plan as buddies were being selected; 4 young men who were kind, caring and patient.  Ian's buddy Drew found a common interest and played on it the entire week.  Ian loves comic characters and he gave himself the name "Star Lord" and anytime he was afraid: on the ropes course, during the hike, while on the Screamer, the "Star Lord" would show up and they boys would cheer on Ian/Star Lord, pray with him and wrap their arms around him when he succeeded!  

Their leader would witness Ian and Drew outside at a table writing in their journals and sharing life stories, dreams and struggles.  Other campers would join and before you know it Ian had many people he could call friends. His walls were coming down through the work of Jesus and love of his cabin.

At the last night of camp as areas gathered to reflect and pray, the leaders asked for students to share if they wanted.  There were about 150 in Ian’s group from Topeka and a couple of students raised their hands and shared, Including Ian! Ian, on his feet in front of 150 of his peers said, "This camp has been awesome, I was really nervous about coming and actually really close to not coming! All of the new stuff made me nervous but my new friends helped me through it and I ended up having alot of fun! I just want to thank all the guys in my cabin!”

Ian and Drew joined the new believer's walk the next morning and that night at Say-So, Ian stood up IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE CAMP and said "I am Catholic and this week I felt God's love and talked to Him. 

Camp brings out such beautiful stories of friendship, growth, bravery and community and an invitation to experience God’s love in deeper ways.

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