rebelling against low expectations
Yesterday morning, 17-year-old Zac Sunderland completed his historic journey — becoming the youngest person in history to sail solo around the world. Along the way Zac has taken opportunities to share his faith and challenge his generation. He even made the cover of ESPN Magazine last month with an article entitled, “Do Hard Things.” With family, friends, and supporters surrounding...
After reading my last post, my mother ran to grab “Deserted by God” by Sinclair Ferguson and read the following excerpt to me (pp. 14-17). I love his emphasis on all of us needing “long-term help”—not a quick-fix; the importance of God’s word in overcoming spiritual dryness; and the story he shares about Martin Luther’s wife (from which I drew the post title)...
A powerful reminder that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. NOTE: Some readers have expressed concern with the fact that Matt Chandler says something about the church being an “enemy of conversion.” Outside the context of the complete message it could come across as if the Chandler (and subsequently, Alex and I) are promoting an anti-church perspective. That is absolutely...
While it’s not uncommon for young people to run for public office, they aren’t often elected, particularly in cities larger than several thousand residents. Someone forgot to tell that to 19-year-old Chris Brown who was just elected (with 84% of the vote) to the city council of Bedford, Texas — population, 48,000. “If you’re dedicated to something and you work hard, it...
If we had to sum up our message in three words we’d say Do Hard Things (duh). But if we had to sum it up in four words we’d say Don’t Waste Your Life. You can guess, then, how excited we were when James Jennings uploaded the above video to The Rebelution Facebook Group. The clip is taken from the Don’t Waste Your Life Conference last month in San Luis Obispo. For those who...
Driving home after running some errands for my family, I was listening to National Public Radio (NPR) when Carolyn Johnson, a writer with the Boston Globe, was interviewed about an article she had written entitled “The Joy of Boredom.” I listened to the interview with great interest and was excited to hear her take the simple, counterintuitive, and rebelutionary position that boredom...
When we are faithful where we are God is faithful to open doors to bigger things. But we still have to move to get through them. So many young people say they are waiting on God’s leading, yet they are not moving to explore the opportunities right in front of them. Some of this stems from laziness, some from fear of failure, and the rest from simply misunderstanding how the leading of God works...
Bre Engel is a high school senior from Indiana. Along with other young people from her church Bre participated in some community service projects and gave a report to her local church. Afterwards she heard a man saying, “Aren’t you glad these kids aren’t out smoking pot or drinking, but are instead doing service for our community?” “That comment just broke my...
Eva Vertes isn’t a normal young person. At least, that’s what our culture would tell us. Her discovery of a compound that inhibits brain cell death was regarded as a step toward curing Alzheimer’s and won her Best in Medicine at the International Science Fair at age 17. Quickly labeled a microbiology prodigy, Eva now aims to find better ways to treat — and avoid —...
A defining quality of rebelutionaries must be that we are students of the Word. There are enough “Minute-A-Month” teen bibles crammed with more cartoons, beauty tips, and party-mix recipes than Scripture, to convince us that serious bible reading and study is not expected of us. One of the greatest ways we can rebel against low expectations is to be students of God’s Word as...
rebelling against low expectations
