rebelling against low expectations
It was early Sunday morning. Suddenly, I was awakened and told to go downstairs. I jumped down from the top of my bunk bed. The sun was shining through the windows, and the sparkling dew still coated the ground. We gathered around, and my father began to pray. It was a disguised way of telling us children that our mother, after being bedridden for nine months from cancer, had passed away in the...
How can I share my faith while engaging in extracurricular activities? For the majority of my life, I have been blessed to participate in several extracurricular activities. Lately, I’ve been thinking about something: How can I show people the light of Christ while engaging in these activities? This is a question that should be at the forefront of every Christian’s mind. It’s so easy to get...
He crumpled to the dusty road as blow after blow landed on his back and head. Everything went black. Moments later, he felt something warm trickling down his cheek; then heard footsteps shuffling closer to where he lay. An audible gasp, and the shuffling faded off into the distance. Again, all went black. A second time he came to but instead of blows, he felt strong arms lifting him off the...
The night of the last presidential election, I made a poor decision. I looked at Twitter. My feed was full of tweets and retweets rejoicing, mourning, celebrating, or decrying the situation as it unfolded, minute by minute. Praise and blame was heaped on both of the major candidates—and on their supporters. My birthday came just a year too late for me to vote in the presidential election. As I...
I used to be completely passive about witnessing to my friends. I would often shy away from witnessing opportunities and become embarrassed about my personal faith. “I’m too shy,” I would tell myself. How can I share the gospel? Thankfully, last spring God began to open my eyes through a combination of different devotionals and sermons. One day in church, we were singing “Let Your...
Does God exist? To many of us, the answer seems obvious. Of course God exists! But how do we know? Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Catholic philosopher and theologian who had the same question, leading him to an intense study which produced perhaps his most famous work: The Five Ways — five philosophical arguments for the existence of God. These arguments give us a strong starting point for...
As part of the Great Commision and our purpose here on earth, we are commanded to be an example of Christ to others in our lives. In John 13:15, Jesus states, “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” Christians stand out in the darkness of the world because of our joyful attitude, hope for the future, and ability to have faith through hard times. When...
Americans spend $2 billion supporting 1.5 million participants in short-term missions trips each year. However, statistics show that up to three-fourths of these trips are poorly conducted, and teams rarely interact with unreached or unengaged people groups (you don’t have to travel far, for L.A. County alone has 400+ unreached people groups!). Although the church has recently exploded with...
Dear fellow missionary kids, We’re on a mission. We have a goal. A task to complete. Or do we? Many times, it seems as if we aren’t working to achieve this goal. We get bogged down. Forgetful. The enemy uses the troubles of this life to make us lose sight of the prize for which we’re fighting for so hard. We take our eyes off the goal–off the prize. I must be honest, I have done this...
Friends are one of the biggest influencers in our lives. They can be encouraging, uplifting, and supportive. On the flip side, they can also pressure us, make us feel uncomfortable, and even lead us to do wrong or illegal things. For us as Christians, it’s tremendously important that we surround ourselves with positive friends and influencers– people who won’t lead us away from God’s...
rebelling against low expectations
