Youth Blog Archive

Have you ever said something in your passion that just totally came out wrong? In your head the thought felt supportive and brilliant but somehow when it was released into the world it was completely different. I bet that’s how Peter felt in Matthew 16:22 when he said, “never Lord! This shall never happen to you.” As Peter listened to Jesus tell him about the persecution and hardship he was about to face it must’ve been inconceivable to think that [...]

On November 23rd 2014 Fredrik Wikingsson walked into the Philadelphia Academy of music and took a seat in the second row. As the lights in the theater dimmed his calves pulsed up and down pushing his heels off of the carpet adding a bounce to his knees. He was still wondering if he was part of a twisted joke as a man walked out onto the stage in front of him, gave some directions to the lighting technician, and then [...]

I’m going to confess something to you that I don’t like about myself. I have a tendency to put things off. I’m not sure if it’s a power struggle or a laziness issue but if someone asks or tells me that they need something I almost always say, “O.k. I can get that to you tomorrow.” I say that, even if I’m not currently doing anything, like there should be a 24 - hour time tax levied on all [...]

“One, two, three, Not It!” That’s how we settled things on the playground. If we needed to decide who would push the merry go round or the swing or any other undesirable servant task we played, “not it.” The last one to say, “not it” was, indeed, incorrect. There was always an awkward pause as the last guy in circle searched desperately for someone later to the game than he was. You snooze you lose. Sometimes identifying who spoke last [...]

Not qualified This is the second, “not” many of us cling to that keeps us from becoming who we are created to be. We read in 2 Timothy 1:7 “You see, God did not give us a cowardly spirit but a powerful, loving, and disciplined spirit.” Unfortunately we rarely believe Paul’s words. Sure, sometimes we’re just lazy but more often we’re scared. We, like Moses in Genesis 13, can come up with a laundry list of reasons why we’re [...]

Puns are considered the lowest form of humor. You may call me a Cretan but I like them. They make me laugh. They make me groan. Sometimes they make a point. If you ride the waves of the Internet you’ll find that Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, Benjamin Franklin, and even Abraham Lincoln have all been credited with the saying, “When you reach the end of your rope tie a knot and hang on.” Here’s the truth on the [...]

My son had his phone taken away for the last four weeks and it was awesome! I won't get into the details of why we took the phone. We all parent differently and the reason has nothing to do with this post. If you know him, please don't ask him about it or mention it. Here are a few of the changes his not having a phone made in our house. We actually spoke real words beyond, "Goodnight", "I love you", and [...]

One of my childhood friends taunted a gorilla. It was a sweltering summer day at the Busch Gardens Park in Tampa. He and another friend took shade in a tunnel, fashioned to look like a dirt mound cavern, along a dark cement path that ran beside the gorilla enclosure. As they watched the huge primate through a wall of glass inside the tunnel they noticed that it, in turn, was watching them back. It was a massive beast, leather faced, [...]