rebelling against low expectations
Last April, a group of five teens from tribal India did a teeny-tiny little hard thing. They summited Mount Everest. Okay, so maybe it was kind of a hard thing. The funny thing is, a year prior, they hadn’t even known the name of the highest summit (Everest). Now, according to the BBC, not only have they summited the giant, they’re ready to start working on another one (maybe Mount...
I used to be an introvert. When my family walked into church and the pastor told us to “mingle,” dread crawled up my spine. At parties, I sat alone and pretended to be okay with remaining silent. Fear kept me from speaking the first words, and I watched the faces going by, hoping a friend would break away from their cliques to talk to me. I used to be an introvert. In some ways, I still am. But I...
We’ve been given the greatest gift imaginable–the love of God. But many Christians, including myself, struggle with accepting so great a gift. We feel like we’re not good enough. Or, maybe we think we’re good enough sometimes, but after we commit certain sins, we’re unworthy for a while. That is a lie. If we’re unworthy sometimes, we’re unworthy all the time. Nothing we do could makes us...
When I was around eleven or twelve years old, I had an idea. I’d heard what people said about teenagers–and they weren’t good things. I couldn’t believe teenagers–even so-called Christian teenagers–would act the way people said they did. But then I started to see it for myself. I was shocked and horrified. And so I had this idea, this ideal promise that I made...
Shasta felt like he was dreaming. For as long as he could remember, he had always had an odd longing to go to the north. Beyond the small grassy hill that marked the border of his little world, curiosity called to him. He could never explain why, but he wanted to go there desperately. And now, here he was, saddling a friendly, talking horse named Bree, soon to run away with him “to Narnia and the...
It’s easy for me to sit here and say I’ll follow God, and be willing to give it all for him. But when the rubber hits the road, it’s incredibly hard. Life is messy. We don’t live in a neat little world, where if something goes wrong, we can just move on, forget, heal, and all our problems eventually fade away. This is real life. One thing is crucial for those who are suffering right now to...
A destructive, sneaky lie has been echoing in my head for days. Maybe you’ve heard it too. “Everything I do is worthless.” I’ve believed all my efforts–writing, piano, you name it–are garbage. Junk that deserves to be tossed out on the curb and thrown in a landfill. But, the truth is: my efforts aren’t worthless trash, and neither are yours. If you gave 100...
Folding laundry one day, a wave of panic over my future hit me. With high school graduation fast approaching, major transitions and decisions loomed. I desperately wished I could see my future path neatly laid out in front of me. In the middle of my panic, I felt God impress upon me, “Just worry about the next step. Then once you reach that, think about the step after.” This thought stopped me...
I was fourteen when God taught me a thing or two about real faith. It was a few months after I’d been baptised; my relationship with Him was growing and I was regularly aware of his presence in my life. I felt close to him. The change was so gradual I didn’t notice it at first. But one day I realised: I do devotions daily, but I don’t get much out of it anymore. And I can’t feel the Lord near me...
Valentine’s Day was stained with blood. The first thing I saw when I logged into Twitter was the words “school shooting” and “Florida” used in the same sentence. My first, selfish thought was, Where? Near here? And then, Oh no. Not again. Our collective hearts are heavy, not only with the news of this tragedy, but with the weight of similar horrors that seem to come on each other’s heels...
rebelling against low expectations
