rebelling against low expectations
“Don’t you know who is the King of the Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the Great Lion.” “Ooh!” said Susan… “Is he—quite safe?” “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver…“Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” — The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe I think we often echo Susan, asking if our God is harmless. Because we would like a Coke...
I’m a happy ending kind of person. My favorite stories end with everyone cheering, quite possibly a dance number, and every bit of the plot tied up in a pretty little bow. Everything turns out right, everyone gets what they wanted (except the villain, of course), and everyone is completely happy. We defeat the evil, all the colors turn brighter, and the boy and girl protagonists smile as they...
When you have a four-year old brother, your entertainment options become quite narrow–and very repeated. The chosen show changes every few months, and some picks endure the repeated use better than others. The old Disney classics lie on one end of that spectrum, while most bright, loud, obnoxious toddler shows are banished to the absolute other. Fortunately for me, the current chosen show...
Have you ever felt like life was leaving you behind? We see so many stories of Rebelutionaries seeking after God, doing hard things, and changing the world. It’s amazing to see the work other young people are doing. Writing books. Graduating college early. Starting ministries. Starting businesses. All of those are good and beautiful and amazing, and we applaud and rejoice with each of them. But...
I paused as I read the post. It asked, “How do you describe a Christian? I’m asking because I think I have a different definition than many of you.” I clicked to see the comments, morbidly convinced I was about to witness a full-out brawl between different denominations, or the putting forth and praising of strange cult-like beliefs. But there wasn’t. Each person described what...
Do you know the land most people avoid, the realm that many fear? We whisper its name with hushed breath, we build tall walls around our homes to keep it away. The Unknown. That strange land, of which we’ve heard rumors of great mountains and valleys, bustling cities and quiet streams, but such mist lies over it that we doubt their existence. Because we fear change. We fear difference. We fear...
This summer I staffed at Summit Ministries, which was an exhilarating, exhausting, hilarious, heart-wrenching, broken and beautiful time of growth and service and encouragement and learning. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about questions. “What do you mean by that?” “How did you come to that conclusion?” “What are the ramifications of...
The world hurts. But not as much as it should. Because honestly, I closed myself off, tried not to feel much over Manchester. Not because it wasn’t an utterly abhorrent thing, not because the loss of innocents isn’t tragedy, not because the inside of me shouldn’t cry at such loss, but because I shut myself off from the pain. There’s too much — I don’t want to feel. Something inside cries that...
Slime and Beauty. Not two words we would usually associate together. Because slime is gooey and sticky and messy and bleck. But you know what, I saw beauty in it. I caught a glimpse of the delight of paradoxes the other day. The rain steadily drummed off the porch, constraining the energy of the kindergarteners inside. But taking such simple ingredients as cornstarch and water, a magical portal...
I got a sword recently. Ok, not a real one, but one of those heavy-duty training swords, because that’s the kind of nerdy present that I love. It’s amazing, and cool, and wonderful, and — terrifying. Because it’s heavy. It’s weighted. It is made to be used as a sword. It’s not a toy, like those little light sabe– *cough*, excuse me, “star...
rebelling against low expectations
