rebelling against low expectations
There is a plague sweeping our culture today. A plague that brings thousands to their knees. It’s taking hold of more teens and young adults than we know, and it is devastating. If you don’t suffer from it, you may not see it as a plague at all, but it is. And it has a name: Anxiety. I assure you, you know people who battle it every day. Some of you may say, “Everyone feels anxious sometimes...
A man stands at the edge of a gorge. Human bones litter the valley floor. Dry bones bleached white from many days exposed to scorching sun. As his eyes took in the sight before him, he felt sick by such death. As he looked on, a hand fell on his shoulder before despair took hold of his heart. He looked up at his Companion; the One who led him to this valley of death. “Son of man,” his Companion...
You’ve been bent, bruised, and broken. You’ve stood firm, you’ve cried, you’ve grieved. You’ve gone from hopeless to hopeful all on calloused, bloody knees. Now you stand on a summit, watching the sun kiss the sky with golden rays, as the tears on your cheeks dry in the light of brighter days. Green seedlings sprout in the ashes at your feet, as a rainbow graces the sky through what’s left of the...
Sometimes, life comes at you with a punch to the soul. If you wonder if you’ve ever felt it, chances are you haven’t. But there are those of you who may have felt a twinge of pain when you read those words. Maybe your bruising and bleeding is still raw as you press your hand to your gut to staunch the pain and forget again. Lift your head and look around you. Take a breath and let it out slow...
When you hear the word dream, what immediately comes to mind? For me it’s Disney’s 2010 animated film “Tangled.” The humorous, perilous, and romantic retelling of the classic Rapunzel fairytale is all about dreams– chasing dreams, worthy dreams, frivolous dreams, and dreams coming true. We all have dreams, childhood longings, and future hopes. You may find yourself staring out into...
Unqualified. Too broken. Not enough. You may describe yourself this way, and the world may describe you this way too. You aren’t smart enough, strong enough, brave enough. Your mind is too broken, your heart is too worn, your body is too weak. The world may use any of these messages to tell you that you’re disqualified, and you might believe them. But what if these very things didn’t disqualify...
The knight stands, trying not to tremble. Sweat trickles down his back and drips from his hair. He’s breathing hard, his feet planted firmly on the ground. His sword and shield are raised, ready for another attack. But the attack never comes. He peers over the lip of his shield; no fire blasts his face, no claws reach out for his already bleeding body. The dragon lays still upon the ground. What...
To the human eye it may seem that the bigger you are, the stronger you are, the more daring you are, the more widely recognized you are, the braver you are. The ones we look to in the world and call brave know who they are and tell us how to be like them. But what if there are people out there braver than these? What if they face dragons just as fearsome, but those dragons are cloaked so the...
rebelling against low expectations
