rebelling against low expectations
Some time ago, I wrote for TheReb about whether fiction is less important for Christians. As Christians we seem to have a problem with thinking fiction—fantasy, realistic fiction, ancient epic—is somehow subpar; that really spiritual Christians don’t bother with it. In fact the opposite is true. Fiction is food for our souls. It broadens the scope of our imagination, lets us see good and evil in...
The night of the last presidential election, I made a poor decision. I looked at Twitter. My feed was full of tweets and retweets rejoicing, mourning, celebrating, or decrying the situation as it unfolded, minute by minute. Praise and blame was heaped on both of the major candidates—and on their supporters. My birthday came just a year too late for me to vote in the presidential election. As I...
You’ve started classes. You’re beginning to fall into a schedule. And most likely you’re creating—or rediscovering—school year habits. Hopefully they’re good habits—starting work on assignments ahead of time; minimizing your time on social media; eating breakfast. Perhaps some of them are not so great—procrastinating schoolwork with Netflix or staying up until ungodly hours. But in all of that...
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been making shopping plans. Not the going-to-the-mall-and-buying-clothes kind of shopping. This is about notebooks, backpacks, and all the other things I need to get before I leave for college in just a couple of weeks. The shopping lists on my whiteboard have been getting longer and longer as I try to figure out where and when to buy socks, sheets, and extra...
It’s no secret that I love music. The Spotify app on my computer is almost always open. I have several albums downloaded on my phone. I memorize the lyrics for my favorite songs and sing them at the top of my lungs when no one else is around. I play both violin and guitar whenever I have time, and I’ve even tried my hand at songwriting (rather poorly). It’s no secret that our culture loves music...
How do you react when you hear someone talk about Bible memorization? I know for a lot of us, it’s with a vague feeling of guilt. I should probably do that. I should probably do that more. What stops us from memorizing God’s word? There are lots of reasons. I’m not good at memorizing. I can’t remember anything. I don’t have time. I’m going to do that…...
I talk an awful lot about Bible study. If you could be a fly on the wall when I talk with friends about our struggles with sin, the question you might hear the most is, “But have you been in the Word lately?” Bible study isn’t the only aspect of our spiritual walk, but it is an essential one. It’s nearly impossible to grow in our faith if we’re not in God’s word. But just because you’re reading...
I still remember the delight of sitting on the living room floor and drinking hot chocolate while my mom read The Lord of the Rings aloud to me and my brothers. I remember how invested I was in each and every character, the excitement of seeing them struggle and overcome, the surprise of each plot point. I remember trying to decide who was my favorite character (pretty much every one of the...
Recently, we’ve published quite a few articles on TheReb about faithfulness in the small things. Different teen authors have tackled the idea of what it means to be faithful in the everyday services which are no less important or less glorifying to God, but can nevertheless feel mundane or even boring. You could call it a rebuke of society or culture or the unrealistic expectations placed on...
There was a time my brothers and I tried to teach my mom to use Snapchat. In general, my mom is pretty good with technology—she even has Twitter and Instagram. So we figured she might have fun with Snapchat. Right? Nope. She kept complaining that she didn’t understand the app, it didn’t make sense, and it wasn’t intuitive. That didn’t make sense to me. Snapchat, I thought, was the most intuitive...
rebelling against low expectations
