rebelling against low expectations
Hope…. When the going gets tough, where do you place your hope? Or when life is great, and times are good, what makes you confident about the future? I want you to think about that for a moment – because today we’re going to be getting into a story about hope. Or, more accurately, misplaced hope. If you have a Bible, do me a favor and turn in it to the book of 1 Samuel, Chapter 4, verses 1-11...
Why are you here? By that I mean, what’s your purpose in life – for what reason are you alive? To grow up? To obey the rules? To go to college? To work for a few years and then retire? To have fun until you’re too weak to go on? To die? Or as a Christian, to say the sinners’ prayer and then try your best to follow God’s rules? Is that why you’re here? Why are you here? Growing up, first in a...
Have you ever felt frustrated with your life? Like nothing is happening the way it should and no matter how hard you try, nothing is changing? Maybe you feel like that now. I know these past few days, I’ve felt like that. I’ve felt deeply frustrated, even angry, with the circumstances all around me. So, I think I can at least partially relate with what you’re going through. But there’s also...
Why does God take so long to answer our prayers? Recently, I wrote an article about trusting God even when life is filled with uncertainty – how we should respond when we don’t know what’s going to happen. In it, I mentioned how later that day I would find out if I would be going on my church’s annual NYC youth mission trip – a trip I had been wanting to go on for almost a full year. Well, guess...
Today, as I write this article, I sit on the verge of the unknown. It’s my senior year of high school. College is just around the corner. Plans are shifting. The world is changing. I know certain things the Lord has called me to, but besides that, I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I know is what God’s laid out right in front of me. Today is a special day, because I’ll finally find out for...
Friendship is a powerful thing that we too often take for granted. I know from experience that friends can be a huge influence in your life for good or for bad. They can spur you on for Christ or drag you down to sin. They can offer you encouragement or end up betraying you. They can bring you excitement or bring you devastation. Friends are important – and we need to choose them wisely. But one...
Just recently, something devastating happened to my closest friend. She lost a lawsuit, and has been forced to pay for a wrong she didn’t commit. Even now, countless emotions are flooding through me, as a whirlwind of anger, sadness, confusion, bewilderment, and just plain shock overwhelm me. I don’t know what to do. So, I just sit here, thinking. What I’m finding is an amazing truth: God can...
Have you ever just stopped to breathe in the awesomeness of God? As I sit and write this, I’m listening to a song by Bethel Music, called “Wonder.” I sit and think about how we so easily lose perspective of God, how we so easily lose our reverence for His glory, and how we so easily lose our wonder. And yet, all around us, God’s jaw-dropping, beautiful creation surrounds us...
For the past five years, I have placed a high value on my popularity — what people currently thought of me. It was one of my biggest priorities, but not in the way the typical teenager thinks of popularity. You see, I am different than most people. I believe that “fitting in” is undesirable. “Being normal” is not on my list of goals in life. In fact, I want to be un-normal...
rebelling against low expectations
