Currently Reading Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations By Alex Harris, Brett Harris see related

This book is an absolute must-read for any Christian young person (it is addressed to "teens" but it is just as applicable to me at 22, who is still facing low expectations).  Excellently well written, and at the same time easy to follow, funny but powerful, your worldview will either be challenged or strengthened by reading this book, guaranteed!  Alex and Brett Harris (“teens” by the way) address the problem of the Myth of Adolescence in our culture and the resulting ridiculously low expectations that the culture has for teens (and young twentysomethings, I would add).  They meet the problem head on and challenge young people to challenge these low expectations and reach for God’s best – not just reaching to be better than those around them.  It is filled throughout with examples from their own lives and the lives of their friends, and in it they tell how they started a whole movement at the age of 16 – the Rebelution.  Thank you guys!

When I picked up this book, I was considering closing this column.  I will be starting school at the University of Idaho in late August, and lately school has been demanding more and more of my time.  To compound matters, readership has dwindled and I have been concerned about the heavily social emphasis that Xanga has been pushing.  “I think it’s time to can this,” I told myself.  Then I started reading this book, and Alex and Brett reminded me that when God calls you to do something you he always gives you the ability to it even if it is hard.  God called me over a year ago to start sharing my concerns and opinions about our culture and where it is going.  Until He calls me to stop I will continue, readership doesn’t matter.  As Alex and Brett remind me in their book, sometimes the hard things that God calls us to do fail – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that God failed or that we let God down!  Sometimes we are called to do something because simply doing it is the lesson we need to learn.  God called me to write.  Who reads it is his business.  I am just a tool in his hand, and I will do what he commands.

Finally, check out my new blogring “Still a Rebelutionary...and in my 20s!”  I want to meet other Rebelutionaries who have moved into their 20 (no longer teens, per se).  I still face low expectations right and left, is this your experience?  People express surprise and congratulate you for doing things that seem so small (getting a B in an easy class, not doing drugs/smoking/drinking while away from home in college, maintaining a commitment to purity while on your own, going on a short term missions trip to a nearby state, etc).  Let’s use technology to the glory of God – “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:27 tells us.  Let’s start posting (or continue posting) our scriptural insights into the problems facing our generation.

NOTE: for you non-Xangians, you can comment on this same post at http://www.vistaoflife.site88.net/blog/index.php?topic=2.0.  This is my own independent site (which I may soon be migrating toward) and you don't have to be a member to reply (though you could sign up if you wanted to).