rebelling against low expectations
Isn’t it aggravating when you take the time to explain your struggles to a friend, asking for guidance, and all they say is, “You’ve got this!” or, “Don’t worry, pray about it!” You know what I mean. The advice that sounds more like a pre–game pep talk than godly counsel. Sound familiar? I thought so. We’ve all had experiences like these, and we may even be guilty of being the ones to give this...
Completely Good to Radically Corrupted Because man was made in God’s image, man was given a mind. God has a mind, so man has a mind. And in the beginning, man was made completely good. In fact, man was very good. Man’s goodness went beyond the goodness of all other creatures because he alone was made in the image of the Living God. But what is this mind of man, and what was it made to do? Why was...
“It is not that big of a deal, it’s just one crude joke…” “It only has one sex scene, pretty good all things considered. I mean, you can’t even watch a good movie and avoid sex scenes. It is what it is…” “Not all music has to be perfectly clean, it’s impossible to listen to good music if you want it to be clean. I’ve just learned to not even hear the bad parts anymore…” Sadly, the...
For most of you, Easter is probably over. Your thoughts have turned to graduation, summer break, camping, etc. But for the disciples, I’m sure that first Easter stuck around in their minds for a long time. It was an incredible, life-changing miracle they had to process… and it probably took longer than three days. One day, their hope was literally dead. The next, He was standing before them whole...
I’m a perfectionist, and I’m not proud of that. Being a perfectionist means I put a lot of pressure on myself, create unrealistic goals, and always try to impress others. I want to appear as if I have it “all together”. I’ll never forget how much I wanted to appear that way when it came time to pick classes for my Junior year of High School. In 9th grade, I took two honors...
When I was in sixth grade, I got sent to the principal’s office twice. I remember saying that, compared to some of the other kids who got sent there every-other day, I wasn’t that bad. I thought, since other kids were way worse than me, it didn’t really matter that I had been sent there twice. Compared to others, mine was a pretty minimal offense, right? Why We Compare This is often how we think...
Chronic illness is one of the hardest things to ever happen to me. It’s also one of the best. I know, that probably doesn’t make sense. Chronic illness doesn’t sound like a “good” thing. Hard things generally don’t seem good. I didn’t think it was a good thing when I got sick. But, as time has gone on and my mindset has changed, I’ve realized what a gift it is. Maybe I just needed to redefine...
What if I got real honest? What if I took a risk? What if I opened up my heart and let you see in? The song was not at all the kind I usually listen to. The music wasn’t mine, but the lyrics hit me deep and I instantly knew what I had to write. There was someone on the other end of my screen who had to hear this. Now, as I sit here, staring at my laptop, watching words appear in clear black on...
the romans, they condemned me condemned me to the confines of hell so they nailed me to a cross and speared my tender side and as i laid there hanging naked and alone the messiah, he turned toward me and in his eyes i saw a ocean of forgiveness and a mind that knew no wrong see, the romans had condemned him condemned him to the darkness of death but he will not stay for light can not be slain by...
Jesus went into the darkest places and the lowest parts of society. He talked with people everyone else would have avoided. He chose fishermen—a lowly, unimpressive trade—to be His disciples. The woman at the well had multiple husbands, but He didn’t look down on her. Instead He told her who He was and is. He chose a tax collector to be one of his disciples and a young girl from the middle of...
rebelling against low expectations
