Crossroads: Where Love and Faith Intersect

This is the third and final part of an overall theme of bullying. The topic was discussed April 13th at Crossroads during the annual Youth Night. To read Wes's click  here  or to read Katie's click  here .  This one was written by Kaarina Maki, a student here at Crossroads.              I’m sure we can all relate to Katie and Wes’s stories of bullying in one way or another. Some of us are being bullied, some of us are bullies, and some of us are both. Like Martin Luther implied in his teachings, we are at once the saint and sinner. When it comes to bullying, though, this can be changed, though. It needs to be changed!             We are all wounded spirits. I read this in Frank Peretti’s book, The Wounded Spirit, and it makes sense. Nobody has lived a perfect life; one without some sort of hardship or another. Bullying doesn’t always manifest itself in outright teasi...

This is part two of a three-part blog post that started with my personal story of being bullied last week. So, if you want to learn my story, click  here .  These parts form the basis of the talks that Katie, Kaarina and I, Wes, did for Youth Night on April 13, 2016. Hello everybody! My name is Katie Murphy. I'm a junior here at MSU. I'm studying Recreation, Parks, and Leisure services with an emphasis of Leisure Planning Management. Of course nobody know what that even means right? Basically I want to plan fun events and create programs for communities and recreation facilities. And I'm also a student leader here at crossroads.  Today we’re talking about bullying. You’ve all seen it happen. Maybe some of you have been bullied. Others were the bully.  I'm going to talk to you guys a little bit about how I was actually the bully. Which is hard to admit. You know, where I'm at in my life now, I don't want to tell people that's who I was. It's not a...

This is part one of a three-part blog post that had Kaarina, Katie and I wrote for Youth Night on April 13, 2016.  Hi everyone.  I’m Wes Huntington, the student resident here at Crossroads.  I want to speak on behalf of someone who was bullied, in that case it is myself. Being the one bullied is no fun, right? Constantly put down, people telling you you’re stupid and not worth people’s time.  I lived with that for nearly all my years in grade school.  Granted when I was in 11 th and 12 th grade it was a little better, but not by much.      I was bullied because I have autism, and before I briefly explain what autism is, let me say that I was verbally and emotionally attacked. I was called many names, like stupid for example. The other ones are ones I’d prefer not to mention because they were too vile for students such as yourselves.   Good, now that we got that out of the way, I want to briefly explain what autism is. It affec...

Hey everybody! My name is Jaycee Nelson. Right now I am a senior at MSU earning my accounting degree. I first went to Crossroads in the fall of 2014 and have loved going there ever since and now, I am hoping to be one of the new leaders for next year. I hope to provide everyone with a welcoming experience, much like I received my first time at Crossroads. Now I would like share with you my favorite Bible verse and why I have come to love it so much. “ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) This verse has spoke to me more over the past few months and what I have relied on. Back in December, I started having issues with my eye, which was very scary at first, as I lost vision. Long story short, I spent a lot of time at different Doctors getting numerous tests done. I found out I needed surgery to repair a detached retina. Now, never having any type o...