rebelling against low expectations
I have always hated change. Always. That’s what happens when most of the changes you experience growing up are negative, when you try so hard to be able to control the things you can because life feels uncontrollable, and when you just wish a few things could be permanent. From four stressful moves in two years, to a different actor playing a character on a TV show I watch, change bothers me. I...
What do you do when you’re afraid? Do you try to hide and forget about the situation that’s making you feel this way? Do you avoid it for all it’s worth? Or do you face your fear head on and walk through it? We’re all afraid of something, and that’s okay; we’re human and it’s completely normal to have fears. However, as Christians, it’s important that we learn to push through the voice of fear...
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a classic story that resonates with everyone, even if they have not seen the movie or read the story. Mention the yellow brick road and prepare to be transported to the land of short, blue-clothed Munchkins and flying monkeys. But I am amazed by this classic story’s deeper message for Christians. The main character, Dorothy, is carried away from the gray...
“If I take one more step, I’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.” Sam Gamgee said to Mr. Frodo as he stood on the edge of adventure in The Fellowship of The Ring. We’ve all been there, standing on the edge of something new and different from anything we have ever experienced before. We have all had hobbit moments. The question is, how will we respond to them? Will we sit on the fence...
“I’m not right for the job. All I know about being a secret agent or trying to outsmart the Gestapo is what I’ve seen in the movies. But if you can’t find anyone else, I’ll go.” These were the words of Varian Fry, a courageous American man who lived during World War II. Along with a team of several men and women, he saved the lives of between 2,000-3,000 people facing certain death at the hands...
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...
Are we willing to follow God outside our comfort zones? I recently went on my first missions trip, and while it wasn’t anywhere exotic (just my home city), God taught me a few lessons about following him to new places. For context, the camp I volunteered with has several sign-up options: sports teams, home-repair teams (which I did for three years), and kid’s ministry teams. I was hesitant to...
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...
My earliest memory of celebrating Memorial Day is attending a parade at seven years old, waving my flag and cheering wildly when my favorite fire truck honked at me. I understood that freedom was not free, I promise you that. The depth of that truth and the full meaning of the holiday, however, did not cross my mind. That’s how it’s supposed to be when you’re seven years old. Reverent and...
rebelling against low expectations
