A Request for Your Stories
Brett and I want to thank all of you who responded to our request for stories in last week’s blogpodge. We’ve received some great ones and we’re so excited about telling the stories of our generation in Do Hard Things. However, we are still in need of more examples, so we are putting out a request again, hopefully clearing up some misconception on what exactly we are looking for.
You Don’t Have to Be Solving World Hunger
We are looking for stories of rebelutionaries doing hard things. These may be big, exciting, and ongoing things, but we especially want stories of teens who have made choices to live out the Rebelution in ordinary, day-to-day life.
One thing that we’ve found helpful is to the types of stories we are looking for is by using the following list. If any of them make you think of a story about you or someone you know, please send them to us.
Teens doing things that…
- Go against the grain of culture or their peers. (Character)
- Go beyond what is required or expected. (Competence)
- Are very difficult or outside their comfort zone. (Courage)
- Cannot be accomplished alone. (Collaboration)
- Pay off later rather than now. (Commitment)
Some stories may have several of these elements, but we hope the list makes it clear that you don’t have to be solving world hunger to submit a story. If all your friends were encouraging you to do something you knew was wrong and you stood your ground; if you had to give up an activity or a relationship in order to focus on more important things; those are the kinds of stories we want to tell.
More Important Information
Last time we mentioned that we are looking for stories of young people outside the United States. We are also looking for more stories of teens in public or private schools. We want all of you to send your stories, but those are specific needs. Please send them to alex [at] therebelution [dot] com.
For those of you who have asked about length and style, ideally stories should be told in the first person, as if you were doing an interview. We want to be able to tell the stories as narratives, and if possible, to weave in the own words of the stories’ subjects throughout. Of course, that probably won’t be an option when telling other people’s stories, but where possible, it would be wonderful.
Also, there is no maximum of minimum length, but longer is better. The more details we have, the more vivid a picture we can paint. Thank you for your help!
September 11th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Oh, neat! I think I might have a entry for you. Do they need to be stories or can they be on subjects of Christianity? Such as Do Hard Things - Forgive Someone?
Eric Novak
September 11th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
I can’t think of any at the moment, but if I do, I’ll certainly let you know!
September 11th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Is there a deadline?
September 11th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Good point that doing hard things doesn’t always mean doing big or noticeable things!
Just wanted to confirm that you got the story I sent last week? My email was giving me problems that day, so I wanted to make sure you got it.
Thanks!
September 11th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Eric: It should be a story.
KeiJoy: The final deadline for a fully completed manuscript is set for the end of October, so the sooner the better!
Megan: Yes, we did receive your story. Thank you so much for sending it — and keep up the good work!
September 11th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
hei! uhmm… It’s just now that I have decided to submit a story of mine.
Here’s a brief summary.
I was a political activist then. I mean, I was one of those mobilizers and I thought I was fighting for something, a change for the betterment of the society. I started when I was still 15 years old. But later I realized that everything was in vain because God wasn’t involved in all our undertakings. Now, I’m 17 years old and I am a Child Rights advocate. We reach out to those Out-of-School teens, to those Children In Conflict with the Law, to those drug abusers, to those sexually exploited, and to those street children. I wanted them to know God, to sing praises and worship for Him, and to challenge them too. I am doing this as part of our evangelism advocacy because I found the greater challenge when I finally accepted Christ and decided to follow Him. I wanted to tell them God’s story and encourage them that God can reform them as long as they are going to accept Him in their lives. Well, I guess their best example is me. Hehe..
You think my story could qualify??? I’ll send the story later if you will just confirm me that I can make a story out of this. Thank You and God Bless!
September 11th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Anyway, I’ve read that you needed more stories from girls and outside USA.
I’m just gad to inform you that I live here in the Philippines and I’m a teen girl.
God Bless!
September 13th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I was not sure if this was the correct place to post or not. Almost 2 years ago, my husband lost his job. He was unemployed for 6 months, and then God blessed him with a job in another state. The children and I continued to live in IL while he worked in OH. I took drove to IN and KY househunting. Family was close by as was a dear neighbor to help the kids if needed. Before moving to IN, we had to replace the living room carpet because of asthma. Our 2 teens, Tom and Kinderline, got up at 5:30 a.m. with me one morning when I couldn’t breathe. They helped measure the floor and then started clearing out the livingroom while I went shopping for flooring at Lowe’s. When I came home almost all of the furniture was taken outside so we could rip up the flooring. They were incredible. They helped days on end without complaining. They helped me to pack up the house for moving, clean, paint, rip up carpet and lay tile, which we had never done before. They were there every step of the way. They took turns driving out to IN househunting, while the other stayed home babysitting our youngest and schooling him, as well as doing their own school. I could never have done this move without them and their willingness and nonstop help 12 hrs a day.
God be with and bless you and yours as you serve Him, Darlene
September 15th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
The only hard things I ever do are (1) practicing piano when I don’t feel like it and (2) doing my homework to the best of my ability, no matter what… sorry I’m kind of a boring rebelutionary.
Oh yeah, and listening to what my parents tell me to do. That’s it…
September 15th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Hi, I just wanted to thank you guys for this opportunity to share our faith with others. I’m always looking for some way to use what God has given me to help or encourage others, but often times it’s seems so hard.
Thank you!
September 15th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
I just got home from the Indy Rebelution Conferance and i have so much positive things to say so this may take a bit.
So first off i wanna say this is the best conferance i’ve went to in al ong time and i’ve been to quite a few. i am so inspiered by the fact that guys only two years older than me are makeing such a profound difference in the lives of ppl their own age (wich goes to show WE’VE even lowered the expactations of ourselves). Your both great speekers btw i don’t think i could get up there and talk like that with out pucking first. But i am so excited about your book thats commig out when it dose you HAVE to tell moi cuz i want to buy it.
Second thing is from today i have been inspiered to start a peer group based around the rebelution. I am so excited about it. I’ll let you guys know how it all goes.
It’s too late to pour a glass I’ve already dumped the pitcher over my head,
Jsmine
September 18th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Hey guys,
I don’t live in another country or go to a public or private school, but this is my story:
Just last Sat. I got home from the Indy conference. I prayed for God to give me some hard thing to do. Well, Sun. my grandpa went to the hospital because he had cardiac arrest. My parents visited yesterday and they’re going again tommorrow. Today my mom asked me if I would go with them tommorrow. At first I was going to say no because I had planned to get together with one of my friends, but then I remembered what I asked God for. I realized wow here is what God wants me to do! He wants me to go visit my grandpa. I can visit my friend any other time, but my grandpa he is old and he’s never been in good health I need to go visit him instead. So that’s what I’m going to do tommorrow
September 19th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Thank you so much for taking on the task of writing a book!
Just wanting to confirm you recieved my story….technology isn’t always reliable!
God bless you as you both write this book!
September 24th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Alright, hopefully this is the right place to post stories… sorry if it’s not.
This particular day at our school was a half day. We got out at 12:00 because progress reports were going out that day. I overheard some friends of mine talking and gathered they were going to walk down to a movie theater about a 10 minute walk away from our school. After calling up my Dad and asking my friends if I could tag along, I was set. They were going to see “Invincible”, which I had been wanting to see for a while (I’m a huge football fan).
There were about 20 of us walking down and we were hungry since school had got out at 12 and they weren’t serving lunch. We stopped at Mcdonald’s on the way there to grab some lunch. As I took a number and sat down to strike up some conversation while waiting for my food, I started to hear talk I hadn’t expected. I thought I had heard it, but I leaned over and heard one of my friends who I had once considered a devout christian cuss. I listened closely to see if I misheard something and realized I hadn’t when I heard it again a few seconds later. That was my first suprise, but not the last.
I’m already questioning some of these people now. It wasn’t just that person, but several others I hadn’t expected to cuss or talk about the innapropriate things, do just that. I kept my mouth shut as we finished our meal and we started walking the rest of the way to the theater. We got there and I watched as one guy with us who was 16, but already could grow a beard easily within a few days, purchased the tickets. But to my suprise, he asked for a bunch of tickets to Beerfest, an R rated movie which I knew we couldn’t see legally. No one was there over 16 years old. But a teenager was working the booth and gave him the tickets. I have long suspected the ticket counter girl knew this kid. Anyways, this kid easily passed for 18. He looked the part, so these 15+ kids got in.
I had forgotten my money, so a good friend of mine by the name of Josh was there and was paying for mine. So everybody else got Beerfest tickets, and we were the only two who were supposed to see Invincible. I watched to see what Josh would do. He payed for two tickets to invincible, but I could see it in his facial expressions that he was thinking of sneaking in to beerfest. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I wrestled with the decision in my own mind. But then I said, “No. I’m not going there. God, I’m going to obey you.” Then I leaned over and told Josh something like this; “We don’t need to see that movie man. Let’s just go see invincible and do the right thing. I’m going to go see invincible. I’m asking you to come with me. But it’s your choice man.” Looking back on it, I think just having someone else with him was all he needed. We both went and enjoyed the movie while all our so called “friends” were talking about beerfest and how funny the movie was.
Monday morning, they all got busted for seeing the movie, while Josh and I were the only two who didn’t get in trouble. Even if Josh would’ve snuck into see Beerfest, I know that I would’ve not gone in there. That’s not to lift myself up in the slightest, but to prove how powerful God’s strength is when he can actually instill character and integrity in me. It was a hard choice at the time. But the long term results payed off both in not having consequences at the school, but having a spiritual victory to remind Satan of next time.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:08 am
After I got home from the Indianapolis Rebelution conference, my mom asked me to substitute teach in the four and five-year-olds Sunday night class. I had done this several times before, but had never really thought about the lesson I was teaching, since it was geared towards young kids.
Well, that morning’s sermon had covered the subject of God’s immutability–one of the terms on the quiz at the Indy conference that I had been eager to learn about! I was amazed by the wonderful truth that God never changes, and I thought, “Why can’t four and five-year-olds learn about this too? They need to praise God too, right?”
The lesson went great! At the end of the hour and a half session, the kids had learned how to pronounce the word, what it meant, what the Bible says about it, and that we praise God because of it! I was thrilled, but I didn’t expect what was coming next.
When I got home, my mom asked me how it went. When I told her, she said, “You know what you should do? You should write a curriculum for fours and fives!”
And that’s how it started. I am currently writing a curriculum about God’s attributes….some lessons include “omnipotence,” “sovereignty,” “goodness,” and “omnipresence.” The funny thing is that no one expects a young kid to be able to understand most of those things. And most people don’t expect a 13-year-old to actually study these things and teach them to a younger generation. But God loves it when we praise Him, and I believe that is is one way he is calling me to serve Him.
My goal has been to help young kids learn about God and glorify Him. And so far, God has been helping me to succeed.
Carly D.
P.S. I think I might have sent this in an e-mail too…not sure if it worked!
September 25th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
A few months ago friend of mine went to a four month discipleship training camp in Nassau, Bahamas. When he got back he was hoping to marry his long time girlfriend who he calls a Proverbs 31 woman. After a class on Song of Solomon though, where the students were encouraged to set higher standards for themselves and their future mates, he felt the Lord calling him to break off the relationship and lay it at His feet. I watched as my friend struggled with his desires and what he knew God was calling him to do. The very next day though, he called her and ended the relationship in order to first become the man God was calling HIM to be. His girlfriend took it very graciously, and said that she had been praying about doing the same thing. It could have turned out differently, but I believe that God was and is blessing him for his willing obedience. And who knows, maybe the Lord will bring them back together in a few years.
Do Hard Things!
October 8th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Wow. That Modesty Survey is very interesting and enlightening!
I think it’s amazing what you did on your tour!