"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength"-Phil.4:13.

That is by far my favourite verse. It helps me through a lot of my rough days, and even through my good days.

This year I was involved in Youth Eventz again, but a little bit more with the planning than I have been in the past. The very first meeting, I brought a song called "While you were sleeping" by Casting Crowns. We got talking about how a lot can happen while we're sleeping (metaphorically or not). This whole idea of being asleep, or what happens at night got us really thinking. We finally came to this whole idea of "Waking Up" for a theme.

Every week since that planning meeting I've been thinking about Youth Eventz. The other day, I was flipping through my English notes and I saw a title that said "Wake Up!". I thought it was a bit of an odd coincidence that I was thinking about Youth Eventz, and then there the title was. It was the handout for the rubric of my first essay of the semester. We had to write about some sort of epiphany that we had at some point in our life and the impact it had.

So as I was supposed to be paying attention to the Hamlet study, I got pondering again about the "Waking Up!" theme for Youth Eventz. Waking up could mean finally realizing that Christ can and wants to save you. Or it could mean opening our eyes to see what God is already doing in our world. However, that's not all it can mean. I think everyone needs to wake up to a lot of things happening around them. Wake up to the fact that Christians are seen as goody goods that don't know how to have fun, and wake up to the idea that it doesn't have to be like that. Wake up to the idea that YOU can be the person who changes that stereotype by simply showing you're a normal person, with lots of mistakes and regrets too.

So how do we wake up? Do we come home from Youth Eventz and say "God, I need to wake up. Okay, thanks!". Or do we think about how we need to wake up, how we can help others wake up and how we might go about it. Go back and read PHIL 4:13. Ask God for the guidance, strength, patience and wisdom it will take to wake up. God will provide and it's kind of neat to see how. Through Christ, you will wake up, and even become an inspiration for others to do so as well.

Meghan Witzel is 17 and from Kitchener.