rebelling against low expectations
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...
The bus was just four yards away. They were so close! But between them and the vehicle stood a chain link fence topped with a coil of barbed wire. A Nazi soldier guarded the only gate. So close and yet still so far away! Havilah bit her lip until it bled. When she didn’t it quivered. Her hands trembled too, so she tucked one into her pocket and Martha squeezed the other tightly. “Take a deep...
The waves rose higher, beating against the boat. Wind whipped around them, stirring up the surface of the sea and tossing them back and forth. They strained against the waves, but it wasn’t any use. Suddenly, on the horizon, a figure emerged. Fear gripped their hearts . . . Does this story sound familiar? Most of you have probably read it first in the book of Matthew. “But the boat by this time...
It is astonishing to me how quickly life moves. It feels like just yesterday I was in high school, and now I’m in my senior year of college! With each passing year comes new opportunities and challenges. For many of us, we are applying for colleges, applying for jobs, or applying for internships. This is my senior year of college, and I needed to start pursuing new opportunities, primarily...
I saw an advertisement recently claiming, “Unbiased News from a Christian Perspective.” In the comments, more than a few people pointed out the irony of that statement. We understand ourselves in the contexts of stories and narratives. This is how we make sense of the world. This “sense-making” takes place as we interpret our experiences in the context of the world around us. When we...
To the teen struggling with self-harm… Considering the times we live in, internal doubts, feelings of failure, numbness, and depression are amplified and even the world around us is hurting very deeply. It can feel like too much to cope with and for some, there is a temptation to turn to pain to make your internal numbness feel tangible. Maybe you’re here to find out more about the...
“You’re going to be an adult in less than a year.” I’ll never forget the day I realized there were only a few months until I would turn eighteen. Only a few months until I would be a legal adult, which meant I needed to start acting like one. I needed to “grow up.” For some, the idea of “growing up” means freedom–you can do whatever you want, no longer under parental restraints. Personally...
Coronavirus. It’s going crazy. Media is flooded with it. Borders are closing. The number of deaths is rising, not to mention the thousands infected by SARS-CoV-2. Countries are closing down their schools and switching to online learning. Churches are cancelling their services. Shops are bought out. The economy is suffering. Whole regions are under quarantine. You are most probably in some way or...
rebelling against low expectations
