rebelling against low expectations
It is astonishing to me how quickly life moves. It feels like just yesterday I was in high school, and now I’m in my senior year of college! With each passing year comes new opportunities and challenges. For many of us, we are applying for colleges, applying for jobs, or applying for internships. This is my senior year of college, and I needed to start pursuing new opportunities, primarily...
“When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 20:1, ESV). The Israelites looked like they were surrounded. To their eyes, they were facing many more horses, chariots, and people than they had. But he who was...
I saw an advertisement recently claiming, “Unbiased News from a Christian Perspective.” In the comments, more than a few people pointed out the irony of that statement. We understand ourselves in the contexts of stories and narratives. This is how we make sense of the world. This “sense-making” takes place as we interpret our experiences in the context of the world around us. When we...
To the teen struggling with self-harm… Considering the times we live in, internal doubts, feelings of failure, numbness, and depression are amplified and even the world around us is hurting very deeply. It can feel like too much to cope with and for some, there is a temptation to turn to pain to make your internal numbness feel tangible. Maybe you’re here to find out more about the...
“You’re going to be an adult in less than a year.” I’ll never forget the day I realized there were only a few months until I would turn eighteen. Only a few months until I would be a legal adult, which meant I needed to start acting like one. I needed to “grow up.” For some, the idea of “growing up” means freedom–you can do whatever you want, no longer under parental restraints. Personally...
Coronavirus. It’s going crazy. Media is flooded with it. Borders are closing. The number of deaths is rising, not to mention the thousands infected by SARS-CoV-2. Countries are closing down their schools and switching to online learning. Churches are cancelling their services. Shops are bought out. The economy is suffering. Whole regions are under quarantine. You are most probably in some way or...
Someone, find Thomas Hunter and wake him up because the world is grinding to a pandemic halt without him. You may not have gotten my obscure reference to Ted Dekker’s Circle Series, but unless you have genuinely been asleep and adventuring in another world, you’ve most definitely heard about the pandemic that’s bringing the world to a halt. You probably have even begun to feel the effects of the...
The world is changing all around us. For students in high school and college, it can feel like everything has been cancelled or is about to be cancelled. School. Church. Youth group. Field trips. Movie theaters. Everything. The gymnastics tournament you’ve been training for all year? Cancelled. The musical you were supposed to perform in next month? Cancelled. That mission trip you’ve been...
Every year has its fears—but this year has had more than its share of them. We’ve had fires, threats of war, and now this unknown that could be hiding anywhere among us—the Coronavirus. There are a hundred things we want to do. Be afraid. Hide. Use every bottle of hand sanitizer. Stock up on toilet paper. Live in a hazmat suit. As we see more and more people come down with this virus, it seems...
What do you do when someone knocks at your door? Jesus is knocking at the door of our hearts. He desires us to open up and let Him have full access to every area of our lives. He has made a way for us to have a relationship with God through His death and resurrection on the cross. But, it is our responsibility to respond to His call for fellowship. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and...
rebelling against low expectations
