rebelling against low expectations
A lot of you are like me. You have dreams. You have big and marvelous and glorious visions to change the world. You’re going to backpack mountains and invent cures and write books and build orphanages and explore and love and do and be. You’ll do it. I know you will. But not today. For whatever reason, today you can’t. You are sick. You are not old enough (legally). You have...
Teachers everywhere are sharpening pencils, scarecrows are in display windows, and Wal-Mart has officially stocked the shelves with full-priced backpacks. It’s back-to-school time yet again. Maybe you’re starting college. Maybe you’re homeschooled. Maybe it’s your senior year or your freshman year or maybe you start junior high this year. No matter what stage you’re...
One day as I was listening to one of my favorite preachers, I was struck with a sudden surprise. As part of the tech-savvy generation, rather than listening to his sermons week by week over the radio, I had simply streamed the sermon online. Then I could multi-task, the only interruptions being when I needed to walk over and press a button every half-hour. Normal, everyday, I-have-everything-at...
This post is part of a series of articles asking and thinking deeply about hard questions. For more information about the series and where I’m coming from you can read the introduction. The Holy Spirit is one of the most controversial aspects within Christianity. Even great men disagree about the Holy Spirit, so I definitely do not claim to have a complete answer. However, this will not...
The other morning I hopped on the computer to check something. Within 15 seconds I had all the information I was looking for. But instead of closing my laptop and moving on, I clicked on something else. Then I clicked on something else. Then I clicked on something else. Click, click, click. AAAAAAH!!! Where have the last 45 minutes gone?!? I have things to do!! Almost everyone who uses the...
BENJAMIN WRITES: I was reading through my history textbook and I ran across a part talking about “The Children’s Crusade.” It is one of the few times in history when teens tried to do something big, and the outcome is very compelling. Here’s the entry I read: “In the summer of 1212 children by the thousands gathered in towns throughout France and many of the German...
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” — 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Our generation of Christians has become the epitome of lukewarmness. We have become so much like the world, either in a compromising state of spiritual laziness...
Ready for a peace rally? Of all the reasons people fight, one of the worst, I think, is because some are male and some are female. Why can’t we just relax and get along? There is something wrong about feminism. We know that as Christians. But sometimes we take it for granted and don’t stop to think about what it is. Just what is it that makes feminism wrong? Well, what makes anything wrong? Think...
KIERI WRITES: Drama is a huge part of my youth group. Things like people switching personalities depending on who they’re talking to, others feeling left out of conversations, even though they aren’t even trying to participate (causing drama for the sake of drama), girls liking the same boy another girl likes (I despise that one), or a girl thinking a boy likes a different girl...
I believe that God is moving in our generation. I see a lot of my peers taking seriously the call to follow Christ with all their hearts. We do not want to waste our lives but are passionate about glorifying God by doing hard things. Although, like every generation, there is a lot of wickedness and apathy among us, I do not believe wickedness needs to define our generation. I think we can and...
rebelling against low expectations
