“Rejection hurts,” would be an understatement. Rejection claws at our very soul, sucking out all life. This monster tells lies and does its best to capture our minds. It tells us we’re worthless, ugly, useless, a mistake. I’ve experienced a great deal of rejection in my own life… While the world portrays the Christmas season as one filled with only joy and peace, that’s not always the case...
The Radical Story of John Allen Chau
I walked into my chiropractor’s office, expecting nothing more than a normal spinal adjustment. But God knew my back wasn’t the only part of me that needed correction. A magazine in the waiting room caught my eye. When I saw one of the headlines on the cover, I snatched it up. Why would a secular magazine publish the story of a controversial Christian? I heard about John Allen Chau when news of...
Are We Willing to Give Up Everything for Christ?
It was the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. A group of Chinese rebels began to persecute Christians and foreigners. One day, they surrounded a mission station with nearly 100 students inside and blocked all the exits except one. Laying a cross flat on the ground outside that exit, they spread the word that anyone who trampled the cross would go free. Slowly, terribly frightened, the first few students...
Live Like You Remember: A Teen’s Thoughts on Memorial Day
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...
So Others May Live: What We Can Learn About Courage from WWII
How do you live willing to die? What makes you decide that the lives of others are worth risking your own over and over again? These are questions I was forced to ask myself after watching a movie which depicted WWII. The film told the story of a man who disguised himself as a Nazi officer in order to save hundreds of Jewish lives in Hungary. And, when I came away from the movie, it left me with...