Campfire Talk by Alex

Camp Week: July 20-25, 2025

Hello everyone, for those who dont  know me my name is Alex Jensen, I am a first year on God Squad and I go to Florida State University. I want to show you something real quick, this is my wallet.

It has my ID card right here its got my full name on here, got my adress, height, it says I got green eyes. Im an organ donor, all that stuff. 

So if anyone wants to know who I am, this card will tell you all of it. It is my identity, no one else can be this exact person, even if they do look exactly like me. 
In all seriousness though this is my “identity” all of the characteristics that make me, me. 

If you would ask someone on staff what my identity is it would probably be “one of the twin brothers” or “toaster guy”  “the guy who buys a new pack of socks every other week”. 

If you would have asked 17 year old Alex Jensen what his identity was it would have been “hockey player.”

I lived the game, it was all I thought about, all I did when I wasnt at school or sleeping. Everything about it consumed me. I spent the better part of a decade trying to become the best hockey player I could be. I’d train every day, 7 days a week. And I loved it. I put all of my focus into the game of hockey. All I ever wanted to be was a hockey player and to be honest my plan was to try and play in college. 

That was mostly the plan up until my senior year, it was an amazing year, our team made it all the way to the state tournament. If you’re not a hockey fan at all, it’s a pretty big deal, the state tournament is at the Minnesota Wild rink, and a ton of people show up, its awesome. It’s probably one of the coolest things I’ll ever do. 

Our team was loaded, 7 guys off our team went Division 1, and our starting goalie plays for team USA now. We were stacked. I knew I wasn’t gonna be a top guy or a starter or anything but I still played a decent amount and I was just fine with that. We would destroy teams, and we had a ton of fun doing it. I got hurt about halfway through the year and was out for about a month. It sucked but I knew that once I got better I’d be back in the lineup and everything would be alright. 

Except after that I never really got back in the lineup. I was crushed, embarrassed.  It took a huge toll on me mentally. It affected basically every other part of my life.   I had made this game my whole life and identity so when it got taken away from me I had no idea what to do. I put so much pressure on myself it affected my school life, my home life, it affected my friendships. I would go all day without doing anything aside from school, hockey, and sleep.  All I cared about was this dumb game. I had made it my whole life.

While all this was going on my family was still working through the death of my mom’s brother, I had just split up with my longtime girlfriend, and I had to prepare for living away from home and my brother. It was a very tough time in my life. 

But we made it to the state tournament, the bright lights, the 20 thousand people, playing in a pro rink. It should have been one of the happiest times of my life, but all I felt was empty inside.

In the state semifinals we crushed Cretin Durham Hall 7-0. But I didn’t touch the ice once all game.  We’re about to go to the state championship everyones thrilled and hooting and hollering in the locker room, and I was excited don’t get me wrong, but I was still bitter inside. And it was selfish.

I was so focused about myself that I kind of ruined what should have been an awesome memory for me. After the game I saw my dad in the concourse of the Xcel Energy Center, I’ll never forget it. He comes up to me, gives me a bug hug and all he said was just says “I’m proud of you”.

He told me he was proud of me.

He told me this, all the while his other son was playing the whole game, getting his name called on television to hundreds of thousands of people watching. But my dad came up to me and said he was proud of me. All the emotions of the last few months all came out at once, It’s the only time I can remember crying in public. It was strange but it felt like this huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders, I was finally at peace. My dad looked past off the other stuff and was proud of me regardless. 

The championship game came and went, ended up losing 2-1 but I wasn’t bitter one bit. After that year, I decided to not continue my dream of playing college hockey, I really did lose all my love for the sport in a year. But that year also tought me some of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever learned. And since then, I’ve tried to make my identity as a Christian, a better friend, a better son.

One thing that I call you all to do when you go home, after you leave this place. Be that person who goes up to someone and just be kind, give them that compliment, look out for maybe the people who arent always in the spotlight. I also hope you all can find your identities as children of God.

And … be proud of yourselves every once in a while. Because I promise you, God is.

Alex Jensen leading a game in the lower lodge