A High Schooler’s Challenging Faith Journey

Josh Mitchell doesn’t know too many Christians at Half Moon Bay High School, and though he’s attended Mariners Church since he was a toddler, as a teenager he’s faced harsh judgment in and out of the classrooms, eventually having his own faith tested and shaken.
Josh’s journey to remain steadfast in the Lord has come with some effort.  For a while at the High School he attended a small bible study group, but the attendance dwindled and after a year, and the group dissolved. Josh is a regular youth group attendee, and when he’s not busy studying, he participates on the worship team playing Bass. But outside the church Josh tackled Religious discussions with much frustration. Questions like, “Does God Exist?” and “Why God?” would upset him and cause rifts between him and fellow classmates.

Why God?
When fellow High Schoolers would ask Josh these tough questions Josh would get defensive or angry, and struggle to defend himself would often dissolve into arguments. “It’s something, he says, “That lacks empathy and understanding. Some of Josh’s classmates and peers think faith is an alien concept, based on education that includes a history of Crusades and torturing witches to draw conclusions from.” He says, “They think, Man, these religious people must be terrible.”

Help at Hume Lake
But those ongoing frustrations soon rattled Josh, and he began to question his own faith.  It was later in the summer at Hume Lake Christian Camp, where he experienced a rekindling of faith with the help of Mariners’ intern, Brandon Hulbert. Brandon helped Josh understand the big picture that includes love and kindness, impressing on him that one of the most important things Josh could do is to read the bible.

​Lessons from the Bible
Ultimately, Josh transformed his approach in the way he speaks to his faith with those around him, to one that is based in love. “I would rather focus on God’s love and Grace, and practice doing it with compassion, like my dad does. “ Things also changed in the classroom for Josh.  This semester he gets to help students understand the bible through a unit on The Bible as Literature, giving him plenty of opportunity to answer questions.  “One friend asked a lot of questions about Noah.  Other students ask which parts of the Bible are the most important to read, so I point them to the Sermon on the Mount, because it outlines what Jesus taught.”