I love those old fairy tales. You know, the ones where the valiant knight saves the princess? The ones where chivalry and honor are boldly demonstrated and called for? Those ones. It always makes me sad when I’m out grocery shopping and I don’t see men opening doors for women anymore, or helping them carry the groceries. Or even when I look at relationships where either the man is...
The Question: What Are You Going to Do When You Grow Up?
I shift uncomfortably in the back seat as all eyes in the car suddenly turn to me. A quiet giggle lingers on my lips as I play with my hands, struggling for the right words for The Question. Ah yes, The Question. That Question. “So Rachel, what would you like to do?” Every teenager in the car has answered it flawlessly so far, as if they have stood in front of the mirror rehearsing it a dozen...
Nathan Han, Age 15: Created Software Tool That Predicts Cancer-Causing DNA Mutations
(HuffPo) — Fifteen-year-old Nathan Han received the prestigious Gordon E. Moore award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which is the largest international pre-college science competition, for his creation of a software tool that can “identify and predict cancer-causing mutations in a person’s DNA.” “I did this by minding-mutation data from online...
Youth Day in South Africa
In South Africa on the 16th of June we celebrate a public holiday known a Youth Day. We celebrate this day in commemoration of the Soweto Uprising in 1976. Twenty thousand students from many different schools joined together to protest against a government announcement that had just been made: Half the school curriculum including Math and Afrikaans was to be taught in Afrikaans. Students were...
Mindless Thinking: Taking Charge of Your Thought Life
“Finally, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” — Philippians 4:8 Mindless thinking. Quite the oxymoron. But looking past that, there is an element of truth in that phrase...
The Extraordinary Power of Now
Have you ever had one of those mornings where you wake up, and just wonder, “What am I doing with my life”? You sit and wonder if your life matters, and who would miss you if you were gone. You have this big sense of restlessness within you. “Is there more to life than what I am currently living?” “When will my big moment come?” “Will I ever amount to...
Teenagers Are Pathetic
We’re going to play a game. It’s called “Fill in the Blank.” I want you to fill this blank with the first negative word that comes to mind. Ready? Teenagers are the most ________ people. What word came to mind? Distracted. Destructive. Disturbed. Depressed. Desperate. Just a few on my mind… Why? We can blame our society. We can blame pop culture. We can blame the government, the school...
Should Christians Stand Up for Their Rights?
Politics are tense these days. Have you noticed? Most of the tensions are centered around whether or not man has a “right” to something. It’s those decades-old arguments: “We have a right to own guns!” “We have a right to have abortions!” “We have a right to free speech!” “We have a right to religious freedom!” and so on and so forth. These ideas are ingrained into Americans as immovable...