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I dragged myself out of bed and groggily got ready for the day. I serve in a kid’s ministry called JumpStart that does church services in lower-income neighborhoods every Saturday. This was our first day of the fall semester, and I was leading games. I admit – I was not in a high-energy, bubbly mood. I was still half asleep, and not particularly happy. But it was hard to stay grumpy when I...
Just today, I got a message from a girl on social media who shared this: I am still not married and it’s what I’ve desired and dreamed of since I was twelve years old. If it’s not God’s will, I have been diligently praying that He would take away this desire, but He hasn’t. What unfulfilled longings are weighing on your heart right now? Getting married? Having one real and true friend? Having...
It’s what makes me stop watching the news for weeks at a time: Catastrophes, loss of freedom, flourishing of evil. You get the picture. It’s all over the media. Yes, of course it’s true that bad news gets more response than good news, and that gives the media reason to focus on the worst parts of the world. But even with that knowledge, it’s very easy to feel like the world is getting worse. And...
Have you heard of the Christian show The Chosen? It’s a Biblically based series centered around the people who are chosen by Jesus (Peter, James, John, Matthew, Mary, etc). There’s a lot that could be said about the series, but today I want to focus on four reasons why we love The Chosen…and maybe why you should make The Chosen your next binge watch! 1. To Support Good Christian Art...
“Mission” is a pretty loaded term in Christian circles and conjures different images for different people. Churches have “mission partners,” people are “sent out on mission.” What springs to mind for you when you hear the word “mission”? Is it people hiking through the jungles of Bolivia to reach some distant tribe? Or setting up churches in unreached places? Is it university event weeks or...
The world is ripe with brokenness. Natural disasters rage, conflicts ensue, and bitterness stirs within. Death is rampant and suffering is widespread. Around 690 million people go to bed hungry every night, and approximately 150,000 people die daily. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, thus separating families, and suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Where...
You’ve been bent, bruised, and broken. You’ve stood firm, you’ve cried, you’ve grieved. You’ve gone from hopeless to hopeful all on calloused, bloody knees. Now you stand on a summit, watching the sun kiss the sky with golden rays, as the tears on your cheeks dry in the light of brighter days. Green seedlings sprout in the ashes at your feet, as a rainbow graces the sky through what’s left of the...
Have you ever said something you later wished you could take back? Or gossiped about someone behind their back? Or told a lie? I know I have. Poison in Your Mouth James 3 warns us about a deadly poison that we must keep under control: our tongues. “For every kind of beast and bird, reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,” James says, “but no human being can tame the...
“It’s so hard to pray because I always forget or don’t make the time.” “I just don’t know how to grow closer to God. He feels far away.” “I feel like I’m totally failing in following Jesus. Am I even a real Christian?” Have you ever said or felt any of these things? We tend to make following Jesus a sort of production. We have to say the right things, read the Bible at a specific time, pray a...
I still remember submitting my very first article to The Rebelution. I was 16 and had started writing less than a year before. I sat in front of the computer, obsessively re-reading every word and staring nervously at the “send” button. I was positive it would be rejected. Absolutely positive. I nearly started screaming when I received the response: “We’d love to publish this!” That moment...
rebelling against low expectations
