rebelling against low expectations
“Do you want to go to a ladies’ brunch at my church tomorrow morning?” It was ten o’clock at night when Abby’s text came, and I deliberated. I had an insane to-do list for tomorrow. But I was trying to be intentional about reaching out and making friends, so I said yes. That morning, we arrived at her church and Maria met us at the door. Maria had some of the deepest laughter wrinkles I’d ever...
A couple years ago, I attended a friend’s laser tag birthday party. The venue was packed and chaotic. Over the course of playing many rounds of laser tag, I was astounded by how disrespectful most of the participants were to the employees. At the end of a round, I mentioned to one of the employees how chaotic the place was and how difficult it must be to work there. I was shocked and heartbroken...
We are Rebelutionaries. We are young people who want to use our youth to serve the Lord. We are men and women who want to do hard things for the glory of God. But sometimes, the hardest and most impactful things we can do seem simple and insignificant. Sometimes, the thing that will actually make the biggest difference isn’t big at all. Sometimes, we overlook hard things because they are...
Words have reached light-speed. We can type something in a minute and thousands of people can see it in an hour. We can speak to more people than could ever fit within our earshot, all at one time. We can spread inspiration, joy, love, and encouragement to so many so fast. This is because we have been blessed with an amazing tool—technology-based communication. But with this gift comes an...
Do you ever wonder why there’s so much drama surrounding relationships? Ever since the days of Adam and Eve, people have managed to fall in love, marry, and make things work. It shouldn’t be that complicated, right? After all, God knows who we’re supposed to marry. Can’t he work out all the logistics? Nevertheless, in the “crushing” stage of relationships, we tend to do dumb stuff that causes...
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...
“What car were you in?” He asked. “I wasn’t in a car. I was running home and wanted to offer any needed assistance,” I replied. After thanking me for stopping and returning to the phone clutched in his hand, I resumed my Garmin watch, though home was a mere three-tenths of a mile from the intersection where multiple cars collided on a sunny afternoon. Did the Holy Spirit prompt me to stop and...
“This might hurt, but I’m just speaking the truth in love.” It’s the quintessential excuse for telling people who constantly get under your nerves everything that’s been festering inside of you for the last three months. This Christian cliche (often referred to as “tough love”) is derived from Paul’s exhortation in his letter to the Ephesians. “To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for...
Did you know God is more concerned about whether or not you love your neighbor than that you get straight A’s in your math class? Paul said in his letter to the Romans to… “Owe no one anything, except to love each other… Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10). Anything we do without love is totally worthless. Love is pretty important...
The dance is beautiful. One glimpse of the rhythm and movement fills your heart with such wonder that you lose all sense of time and self. Such power emanates from the dancers moving one around the other that it seems as if shots of electricity surge out of their fingertips wrapping the others in glory and delight. It doesn’t take long before you find yourself swept into the magic of it all. One...
rebelling against low expectations
