R.I.P Societal Norms

   This weekend I went to Acquire the Fire, a massive youth rally held in the Gboro coliseum. Let me start off by saying that it wasn't one of those feel good services that tells you that you are doing a great job and everything is just fine. No, it was full of passion, truth and fervent joy about our Lord; about how we can better serve him, become better christians and create a better world. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to be a part of it. Today I want to talk about killing, and some of the things we need to kill.
1. Normality
2. Cool

The weekend's theme was "I'm not normal" and as christians that should be our motto. God calls us to be the light and yet statistically in this day and age we are no different than those who are not christians. How can we be a light against the darkness if someone can not see the difference between dark and light...are we really a light at all?  I want to restate something that I mentioned a long time ago, we can't get aloof because we think we ARE the light. We are just fragments of glass reflecting the true light, Christ. Once we have identified that we are not the christians we are meant to be we need to investigate and find the root of the problem. NORMAL. That's our problem. The christians of the first century were stoned, flogged, and verbally abused for following christ. They were passionate, faithful and full of joy.... doesn't sound like us, does it? The difference....alot of things, the key factor? They didn't care about being normal, and normal runs our life. Problem # 1 solved : Kill Normal.
Problem # 2 is a sub-section of problem # 1 but in a way it is much harder to kill than normality because COOL is the reason we want to be normal. Cool it the epitome of normal, it's the bees knees, it's acceptance...it is human nature to desire it, and we have to fight it. Cool is everywhere, it is in skinny jeans, a pack of cigarettes, a new pair of nikes and a 2012 mustang. We can remove these desires, these false idols, without too much damage to our life. We just have to live a little more simply and live counterculture but the hardest part about killing cool is that the "church" has become cool. So how do we kill cool without killing the church? A simple mindset change is all that is required. Keep in mind that this change will be simple but definitely not easy. We must remove the social aspect from church, filter out the feeling of superiority and view church as a place to serve God and carry out his works. We need to go to church because we want to serve the Lord, not because it is cool. If you lived in a country where Christianity came with a death sentence would you still sneak out and go to church? Would you still read your Bible? Would you still give your life to Christ? Does God have your heart or have you given it to the world, to pleasing others, to cool?
Cool lives in my life, he is at my side when I'm looking at that new shirt or saying what I need to fit in. As of today I'm killing cool. I'm going old school, so old you may call it ancient. I'm going 1st century. I am killing cool and I'm not looking back. I'm going counter culture in the name of Christ.

Boiling Point

I've come to accept that the world isn't fair. There has to be a winner for there to be a loser, a first for there to be a last. But in what parallel universe does coming in first justify getting valued last. After working hard for the past 4 years in high school, placing in the top twenty and maintaing a 4.8 weighted gpa I recieve less accolades than another student with lower credentials due to their race and or income level. I support making the playing field equal for all aspiring students and sadly our country has deep rooted prejudices that have caused c ertain requirements to be placed on opportunities to ensure that aid is given fairly. The issue arrises when the balance is over-righted and it becomes just as unfair as it was in previous eras but in the opposite direction. Our mindset has become SO politically correct that universities and buisnesses overlook the total quality of their applicants in order to maintain ethnically and socailly balanced statistics.
   We are a nation founded on capitalism and a free market which is slowly dying, (ironically it has a positive correlation with our economy) and the question must be raised, Why did we change? A capitalist society allows for a natural filtration system to occur, placing like qualities together, promoting strong and healthy buisnesses and phasing out the weak. Would you ever see a MBA or NFL team turn down a star athelete because he would "disrupt their ethnic ratio". No, you wouldnt and if you did you would call them a pansy team with no hope of success.
I am not advocating for a complete abandonment of needbased scholarships and aid but I am asking that universities and businesses take a look at how far we've come and possibly reign in their policies, allowing us to regain a balanced medium. I am asking that they view me as a student based on my achievements,my failures and my character instead of my skin color and how much money my parents make.

Is anyone there?

High School is riddled with its climaxes and rock bottoms. We face adversity every move we make. Someone tells me I'm not good enough, not strong enough, not rich enough and even not poor enough almost every day. I'm pretty sure that alot of the difficulties I face on a day to day basis are unnecessary but no matter what I do they still occur. That is just life. BUT the point of difference occurs when we decide how to face the adveristy. Courage is needed, fearlessness is necessary and hope is vital. These three traits can not be mistaken with the lack of fear or overshot optimism. To have courage, hope and to be fearless means facing your "Goliath", being scared, and then..... not running away, but pulling back the chords of the sling-shot. The second easy mistake to make in facing our adversaries is to believe that these traits are solely created by ourselves. That is a lie. David didn't face Goliath alone, he had God on his side. God gave him the courage he needed, the fearlessness, the hope.
    As we face our everyday challenges we need to call on the strength and help of God. We need to place our trust in our creator, because ALL THINGS happen through HIM.
Also, I am a strong believer in wingless angels, those people in our lives who stand up for us no matter what. My parents, my church family, my family, my friends.These people have a purpose to fill in our lives, just like we have a purpose in theirs. There's a saying that "Friends are the family you get to Pick." Choose friends that encourage you, help you grow, support you and love you in the best and worst of times. In return, be that friend to them also.

Here's a verse I really like, plus it's my favorite number...
Proverbs 17:17
Go check It out.