rebelling against low expectations
It’s usually easy to live as a set-apart Christian teen on Sunday morning. We’re quick to conquer the church checklist: Wake up. Read Scripture. Go to church. Read more Scripture. Listen to a sermon. Talk to Christian friends (usually about Scripture). Check. Check. Check. But between the church doors and the safety of home, something happens. We’re assaulted by our culture. Singing Christ’s...
About a year ago, God took me out of my figurative comfortable reclining armchair and made it very clear that he wanted me to do a very hard thing—‘fess up. My Story When I was fourteen, I became addicted to pornography. I hid this sin from everyone in my life, not even writing about it in my journal. I tried to hide it from God, by “making up” for it in my quiet time–reading the...
Do you ever feel like you’re the only one trying to do the right thing? Maybe you’re striving for purity, but you’re easily discouraged after seeing your classmates’ seductive Instagram posts. Maybe you’re aspiring to have a cheerful attitude while you’re doing your chores, but you’re the only one that cares enough to try. Maybe you’re attempting to do your best on your math homework, but your...
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” That’s one of many important questions that you’re supposed to find the answers to during your teen years. At 21, I still haven’t figured out the vocational answer that people are looking for. Many of us teens and young adults have no idea what we’re going to do tomorrow, let alone for the rest of our lives. But as young people whose identities are...
Do you make New Year’s goals? For the past several years, at the end of December, I’ll sit down and write out my plans, dreams, and yes, goals, for the brand new year in front of me. It works great—for the first two months. I’m inspired, motivated, and have a sense of direction. But somewhere between February and March, my list flies out the window until ten months later, when I pull it out...
I can still remember the day I turned sixteen. Sixteen was always the age that seemed so glamorous. Most young people eagerly await the opportunity to turn sixteen for many reasons. Driving would probably be at the top of that list. Now that I am twenty-one, I look back on my sixteen-year-old self and I have many things I wish I could tell her about life and following Jesus. So whether you’re...
Can’t we all love the people we see Whether or not they all agree To what is said, or claimed, or cried Why can’t we love the person inside? Today we slam, we shout, we bash, We hurt, we scorn, and then we smash. We treat others like so much dirt And we don’t care what lives we hurt. I may not agree with a movement or claim, But I’ll treat the person behind them the same...
“I AM WHO I AM,” he said. “Say to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14). This is the name God told his reluctant leader Moses. He went on to explain, “This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (v.15). This verse is rich with many truths, but one word in particular emerges for me through repeated reading: remember. Flip forward a...
Today we vote. Today we “decide the fate of the Republic.” Today, those of us in America, exercise our “God-given rights” as a Democracy to decide who we will be: What laws we will follow and what leaders we want to guide those decisions. I don’t know about you, but this season can be a little overwhelming. Everyone’s emphasizing the importance of this election, even though we emphasize that...
Like many young people, I finished high school with only a vague notion of what God wanted me to do with my life. My interests in novel writing, acting, and fashion design were artsy and impractical. To further complicate matters, I struggled with a terrible chronic illness, so for a couple of years my entire focus was on getting healthy. And even then, I had to face the fact that I might never...
rebelling against low expectations
