By John Mabry III
My first year in high school was definitely different. The school was very crowded. In middle school there’s only about 300-320 students, but in high school there’s about 2000-2400 students. In 8th grade, they used the high school grading system to train you for high school, but that did not prepare me for life in the 9th grade! 
Being a saved Christian, there were some challenges, like finding the right friends with whom to hang out. People say that they go to church and they’re saved, but in the end you hear about how “high” they got or how much they drank non-stop and you wonder why you even talked to them. People like to see me as a Christian, a helper, always getting very good grades, being very good at any sport I can get my hands on, and having girls liking me; however, my priorities (thanks to my parents) are Church, then school grades, then sports and no girls. I am okay with the having no girls because I want to honor and respect my parents, and to be on their good side.
When people started to notice that they liked me, I started to gain popularity. That’s not what my dad wanted because he and I know when you get too caught up in yourself, things that you forget about come around like a hula hoop. Material things can ruin you. My biggest challenge in high school was my classes. At the beginning of the year I had great classes, but the computer system put too many people in the class. Unfortunately for me, I along with others got switched out of some classes and ended up in rowdy classes where there were troublemakers. It was very hard for the teacher to teach and especially hard for the students that wanted to learn. Eventually, I had difficulty maintaining my grades and keeping up with sports at the same time, so my dad told me to let sports go until next year.
Near the end of the year it was SOL time. And Lord knows I hate Biology or anything that has to do with science. So I will confess, I only studied for a little bit, meaning only like 10 minutes and then went to sleep. When I was at the test I prayed and said, “Lord it’s in your hands. Whatever I learned or studied…allow it to come to my remembrance and have your way.” A week or so later, I found out that I did better on my Biology SOL than I did on my Math or History. And I love history more than any other subject, even more than P.E. But in the end, when you pray to God, asking to help you find the right friends that are saved, to help you with your studies, and to help you live saved according to His Word, He will do it for you. Of course, with studying you must apply yourself so He will have something to work with too. It is important to keep your mind on Him and He’ll guide you through challenges that you never expected to overcome.