rebelling against low expectations
Among evangelicals today there seems to be this attitude that the most important aspect of our community and witness to a lost world is transparency. We have begun to believe that what the world wants more than anything from us is for us to be real. Allow me to first say that I am wholeheartedly in favor of transparency. It seems to me that there are way too many Christian circles out there that...
I am one of the luckiest girls in the world. I am the oldest of four children. Jessica is twelve, Cael (whom we call “Boy”) is three, and Cadence is thirteen-months-old. There are almost fourteen years between me and Boy and so I have gotten to observe his growing up process, more so than with my sister Jess. As I watch Boy grow and develop he has taught me many important lessons. Pray about the...
Recently, I submitted a three-part story for a children’s magazine to consider for publication — a diary-type chronicle of my life as a pastor’s kid. As I waited for a reply, I had already begun to count my chickens. Diligently I calculated the compensation and multiplied it by three, imaged the cartoon-ish artwork that would illustrate the series, and hoped the editors would spell my name right...
For the past fifteen years, photojournalist Chuck Bigger has traveled the globe with Compassion International, working to bring to life the stories of thousands of children living in poverty. When given the opportunity to interview individual children, Bigger likes to ask them this question: “If God were sitting in this room with us right now, what one thing would you ask Him?” This...
(Matt Walsh Blog) — Child psychologists have “discovered” that adolescence actually ends not at 18, but at 25. Once again psychologists have waved their wands and magically created a larger customer base. But maybe I’m being cynical, maybe adolescence really does end at 25. Or is it 18? Or is it 40? 35? 50? 12? 2? 93? I think the answer is yes. And no. Let me explain. Back in the old days, there...
Joy in the midst of trials. Is it really possible? I sit beside my classmates, waiting for this guy to do our chapel service. I gaze out the window, and see only a glimpse of light trying to break through the morning darkness. I just want this over with. So we can go back to class, and I can finish that essay I turned in late and ask someone for help on that one Latin sentence that I just can’t...
Want to do hard things? Want to succeed at life’s toughest challenge? Learn to forgive. Even the most talented people have limited impact until they learn the basics of forgiveness. But what does forgiveness mean, exactly? Is it merely saying “I forgive you”? Does it mean forgetting as well? We can try to squeeze it into a simple definition by saying: forgiveness is the continuous state of a...
“But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.” — Isaiah 64:8 I look back this past year, and see how far I’ve come. The Lord has shaped me, and molded me, and I am slowly becoming more and more like Him. I cannot boast. I cannot boast in myself, but only that the Lord has taught me many, many things that have challenged, changed...
Artists are profoundly obsessive people. A visual artist can become almost abnormally preoccupied with a single color for weeks or months at a time. It isn’t just the use of the color, but the mere sight of it that enthralls the imagination. At the moment, I’m going through a torrid love affair with — of all possible hues — black. Black is the absorption of all the colors of the spectrum — the...
It’s hard to let go when our hands are clenched hard around our dreams, our aspirations, our lives. I’m at that age when people are constantly asking me what I’m going to do, what college I’m going to go to, etc. And, again, I chuckle. I smile and I reply, “I don’t know yet.” Sure enough, I have goals. I have aspirations. I have dreams, plans (remember? *grin* ). In fact, I dream of marrying some...
rebelling against low expectations
