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I’ve been thinking lately–which I know might be a dangerous thing–about the issues we all have. This all happened after I counseled some of our students who told me they were ‘struggling’ with sin.
We talked about Scripture and Jesus and still felt like we were back at square one. I thought about what sin means if you’re in Christ. Being in Christ means you have been set free. And freedom is something to take joy in.
Expectations. We all have them. At times, they can be a point of focus, a perennial north star guiding us into the future. And those other times? Well, they can be a major source of pain and frustration. This is especially true when people place expectations on us.
I’ve noticed this often occurs in the lives of young people. Deliberate or not, we tend to place unrealistic expectations on them. This is partly due to a desire to see them succeed and live healthy, full lives. Another part, though, is due to a misunderstanding we have when working with young people.
We’ve forgotten to let young people be… young people.
One of the things they teach you in seminary is the importance of crafting sermons. A lot of instruction goes into creating biblically sound, articulate, and application heavy messages. Of course, there are certain things about sermons that can’t be taught, but can only be learned.
Have you heard the story of Kris Kristofferson? He tried for years to hand his demo tape to Johnny Cash, but it never worked out.
Kris gave his tape to everyone in Cash’s entourage–his band members, his manager, even his wife–but the tapes all ended up in the trash. Then, one day, Kris landed a helicopter in Cash’s back yard and handed him his demo tape.
Cash listened to it and ended up producing it. He was impressed by the music, but also by the reckless abandonment shown by Kristofferson. The funny thing is, moments like this change the course of someone’s life.
Sometimes risk pays off.
Sometimes anomalies happen.
