Responsibility

This was introduced to me through one of my friends, and I remember when she showed me the book I kind of laughed in my head and thought: “Do Hard Things? No Thanks.. I think I’m good!” I was a little hesitant to open up the book to see what it was all about, but when I did I was very shocked. This book is about how our society has such low expectations for young people, and how Alex and Brett are flipping that around and creating: The Rebelution. Rebelution defined as- A teenage rebellion AGAINST low expectations Rebelling against Rebellion. This gets me excited and gives me hope thinking that I can actually do something big with my life; I don’t have to wait till I “grow up”, instead I can start now.
My favourite quote so far from this book is-
"The teen years are not a vacation from responsibility, they are the training ground of future leaders who dare to be responsible now." I like this quote because it kind of makes you think twice about how most of us take the “teenage” years. In fact just yesterday I had a friend on face book post this as her status-
“All my life I've been good but now, whoa I'm thinking WHAT THE H*** cuzz we are teens we will PARTY HARD :D ♥ ♥ ♥”Yeah, that really bothered me... So I actually posted that quote in response, all she could say to that was “lol”. I thought it was very ironic that she said that, and I really don’t see how that is a laughing matter, but ok. Instead of “partying hard” we should be taking responsibility. Help out around the house more, do things without having to be asked, even these are small responsibilities. Alex and Brett name off some stories of young adults in their book, one of which I really thought was neat! It was about a young boy named David who was born in 1801-

“At age twelve, David was given command of a ship that had been captured in battle and was dispatched with a crew to take the vessel and it's men back to the United States. On the journey home, the captured British captain took issue at being ordered around by a twelve-year-old and announced that he was going below to get his pistols (out of respect for his position, he had been allowed to keep them.) David promptly sent him word that if he stepped foot on deck with his pistols, he would be shot and thrown overboard, the Capitan decided to stay below. At the age of twelve, David became a man."
Isn't that cool? It honestly does not matter what age you are; if you are willing, you are able to take responsibility, and take action; don't waist your life in the "teenage vacation".

(Dedicated to Alex and Brett Harris)I would highly recomend to any "teenager" to buy this book and read it, also check out their website which has lots of interesting things, it also has a video series based on the book. :)
http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2010/04/video-series-fabulous-life-of-a-teenager/

Share

At the event, in the open sharing time that I talked about in my last post, something else struck me. One of my friends came up and shared that through out the year he had some struggles and always had a tendency to bottle it up inside and not get it out; he knew this was the wrong way to approach it. He told us that when he opened up and willingly shared it, things seemed to start getting better for him, he knew it was on the path to being fixed. This struck out to me because I also have a tendency to bottle things up inside and not want to open up or share with others. But the matter of fact is, that if you just keep your hardships to yourself things are less likely to get better. I know I have always felt better after sharing with a friend or a youth leader. Not only will they listen to you, but they will pray with you. Prayer is the best possible thing to do for anyone. Also, not only should you be sharing with a friend to pray with but also share it with God. If you put your trust in him, he can do some pretty amazing things.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7

Dedicated to my youth friend- Austin

Shine

Every year my, youth has a new years all nighter event, and every year at that event; around 1:00 am our pastor (Colin) hands out paper, an envelope, and a pen to each youth. On that paper we are to write ourselves a prayer, once we are done we put it in the envelope and write our address on it, then hand it in to our pastor. At the end of each year he mails our letter to us so we can read it and see if we met our goals for the year. Last year I was unable to make it to the event, but a couple days ago while I was there I heard alot of my friends talking about how they had received their letter in the mail that week and how they hadn't met their goals. Now, I didn't write a letter last year, but either way, in my heart I knew I hadn't met my goals either. I felt horrible and far from God; but after we had wrote our letters we had an open sharing time where whoever wanted to, could go up and share something with the group. About halfway through my brother went up and shared some hope that really spoke to me. He talked about how alot of us did not meet our goals last year, but there is still time because we are still here. That we do not know when our end is, so we should not waste a moment and always try to live our lives for God. This really struck me because it is true, we really should take advantage of every little moment and live our lives to the fullest for God. Not only should we be living our lives for God, but this includes spreading God's word to others so they they also may live for God and experience the Joy of being close to Him.
Live you life to it's fullest, and let your light shine to everyone around you. A verse Pastor Colin shared with us was-

No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more, whoever does not have even what he thinks he has will be taken from him. Luke 8:16-18

This is a verse I found that I liked and thought it tied in well with his sermon.-

Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2 Thessalonians 3:1

Dedicated to my amazing brother- Nick