because you have about 29 more days to go this may.
funny story from yesterday...
i was encouraging millie to go to fca (fellowship of Christian athletes) at raa middle school with her friend who we were giving a ride to school. fca meets thursday afternoons and several of her friends go and i know the teacher that leads it and she is awesome. but millie has just NOT wanted to go and since she is involved with several other Bible studies, i have not pushed it on her.
so in the car yesterday, after her friend asked her if she would go with her that afternoon, millie said, “but i’m not dressed for that”.
“WHAT????”, said the mother (me), “WHAT kind of clothes would you want to be wearing to a BIBLE STUDY?” (thinking to myself, “i am not buying you any more clothes, even if they are ‘BIBLE STUDY’ clothes”!)
millie answered, “ummm mom, it is fellowship of christian ATHLETES, i would need work out clothes.”
seems that this whole time she thought they were EXERCISING and doing very athletic things. she just had felt too overdressed for the whole thing.
anyway after her friend explained that the MOST athletic thing that they had ever done was walk around the school and pray over each area of the school, millie decided that she could attend the event even wearing her flip flops and jeans with yellow dress over the jeans and her matching necklace, bracelet, earrings attire of the day.
she really enjoyed it and can’t wait to be more involved next year. and won’t even need any new clothes to be involved. “but could we just run by kohls and see what is on sale”, she would like to know...
now, if you have a teenager in your home (or just want to be amazed at what some God lovin’ teens are doing these days that does NOT involve texting each other, shopping at abercrombie, or any alcoholic beverage games... go and purchase this book do hard things: a teenage rebellion against low expectations.
i do not think it is in any way an accident that i had picked up that book to read the day before my “non-athletic, take the easiest road possible” daughter (“she got it from her mama”) made that little admission to me about WHY she didn’t want to go to fca. she has bought into the lie of the world that her teenage years should be years of ease and comfort (and i have been helping make it all ease and comfort and one long shopping spree)... BUT THAT IS ALL ABOUT TO END! and she doesn’t know it yet, but it is going to be more fun and exciting than a trip to the mall!
here is the website for the movement that the book came out of (which has a ton of great stuff on it as well... therebulution.com. i have linked you to one of my favorite illustrations from the book...
it is about why the vikings were so successful in their plundering and taking over of other countries. it is basically because they rowed themselves to war. they did the hard work on the way, they didn’t neglect or delegate the hard work to others. they didn’t say “now is my time to be selfish, now is my time to do my own thing, now is my time to PARTEEEEE”, and so they didn’t find themselves saying the SAME thing when they were 26 and still living in their mother’s basements. NO, they were out plundering and burning small villages (ok, so that isn’t really what i want my teenagers to be doing, but you get the point). our current culture has teenagers sitting around playing video games and shopping for low cut jeans when it is time for them to be rowing themselves where they need to go!
i read the book yesterday and gave it to millie and when she is done, i told her that i have a challenge for her and i to take on together, a HARD thing for us to do. because like it or not, she is EXACTLY like me (and that is not a good thing sometimes).
i am also in the middle of reading a series by joel rosenberg click here to see a list of his books on amazon.com. they are political thrillers and he bases all his predictions on Old Testament prophesy. really, he has been DEAD ON in some of his predictions already and it really gives you an appreciation for what is going on in the middle east and the sovereignty of God and how He has revealed so much more to us than we will ever know in the pages of Scripture! i hope to finish the series before Jesus comes back... which might be ANY minute now. thank the Lord i am a speed reader and will finish them before the jews build that third temple and all HELL breaks loose on this earth....
speaking of all hell breaking loose any minute now, i have to run and make breakfast for my 16 middle school girls who are coming for their last friday morning BREAKFAST BIBLE STUDY of the year. whoo hoo! it has been a lot of fun, but a lot of work sometimes (certainly that DO HARD THINGS thing is ONLY for millie, not for her mother...)
oh, yeah, i forgot to tell you what i am challenging her to after she reads the book... oh, i forgot that i am not telling you until after millie reads the book. sorry... but good news, she is a speed reader like me, so you won’t have to wait too long...