rebelling against low expectations
“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice.” – Philippians 4:4 Rejoice always. It’s hard to rejoice always; some days it seems like there really is nothing to rejoice about. Your world may be closing in and collapsing all around. Hopes, dreams, relationships, security—all dropping like flies. You feel more like crying or screaming than rejoicing. Or perhaps...
As I read email updates from the Bible school in England I plan to attend, I find myself wishing I were already there. As I hear about my online friends and the fun things they’re doing with their friends, I find myself wishing for friends that were here with me. As I hear of friends getting jobs, I find myself wishing there were some way I could make money. And I find myself wondering, what’s...
We live in the shadows of rejected Light, Where darkness praises morning’s thief; Yet one day soon, dawn shall burn bright. We live in the lowlands of earth’s broken blight, Where death is claiming victory; We live in the shadows of rejected Light. Our souls rest trembling in the night, Our spirits bound in faint belief; Yet we know soon, dawn shall burn bright. And we deeply bear these words I...
We live in a very joyless society. People claim to be ‘happy’, but depression, despair, and suicide run rampant. Individuals are increasingly seeking happiness in the temporal—drugs, entertainment, work, and relationships—or some ‘connection’ to the spiritual realm through meditation, new age remedies, and soul-searching sessions. But when we look inwardly to find the source of our satisfaction...
Once upon a time a girl found herself wandering down a trail as tears ran down her cheeks. It had happened again; she had lost something very dear to her heart and this time her insides felt shattered and bleeding. Suddenly she stumbled, but she caught herself on a post sticking out of the ground. Sobbing, she looked up at the post. A sign pointed ahead at a bend in the road. The sign said, “Life...
As I anticipate the summer ahead, a familiar thought fights for my attention: maybe this will be the summer I finally get it together. Maybe this summer I will finally work out consistently. Maybe I’ll become a runner and be stronger than I ever imagined. I can see myself—tan and lean, powering up the hills, my breath as steady and silent as if I were sitting in a lawn chair on the back patio...
There are many things in life that can get us down. Daily struggles and difficult situations try to steal our joy all the time. This is something I personally have experienced in my life. But God doesn’t want us to live in constant sorrow. In fact, He came so that we might experience His joy even in the middle of our struggles and hard seasons. Here are three reasons we can rejoice in the Lord...
If you have been a Christian for a long time, I’m sure you have heard the Christmas Story a dozen times. We hear it so much that we’ve become blind to the goodness of it. We forget to take in what it really means. The Christmas story about God becoming man to build His kingdom here on Earth is very intriguing, but I think we miss the reason Christmas is such a sweet time. God was unable to be...
“You need to celebrate!” my mentor told me. I’d just told her something I’d been praying for and working toward for months had happened. I laughed, feeling like a hypocrite. I’d just told my mentee that morning to celebrate what God was doing in her life. In our culture, we don’t celebrate a whole lot. Yet celebration is a spiritual discipline. The Israelites, following God’s law, made...
I wish people thought about death more. I think it would change the world. Hang on, stick with me. It’s just that this weekend, I witnessed a car accident. I was almost in a car accident. I also grieved the death of a family friend in a skiing accident. And I experienced the fragility of the human body, dealing with unusual brain swelling and lung issues. I’m twenty – we aren’t supposed to...
rebelling against low expectations
