tapiocapuddin

What Friends Are For-all three

Being a Rebelutionary isn't easy as we're "creating a counter culture", and friends to help you along and work with can make all the difference. Brett laid out 6 ways to choose companions:

1. You must have a hero
Oh, many of us have heros--Kobe Bryant, Barry Bonds, Josh Groban, etc. But why are they our heros? Are there drawing us closer to Christ? When you read their stats/music, are you encouraged to stand up against the culture? Are you in awe of God's holiness and desire to live for Him after being around them? I'm thinking no. Now how about Jonathan Edwards, Henry Morris, and Verna M. Hall? Hint: your answer should be yes! Pick a hero, read all their writings, study their lives, pattern yourself after what you see that followed the Bible. Heros are not overrated. You just need to pick the right one.


2. Make friends with dead people
"You won't find friends more...readily available than dead people." Read, read, read the writings of the past greats. We can learn so much from those who have gone before us. Earlier today I was reading parts of Jonathan Edwards' journal and thought he could almost be quoting Paul! The lives of the Christians greats were so immersed in the Bible that it overflowed into their writings. Dead isn't always bad.

3. Make use of the contact sheet in the back of your workbook
Uh, I didn't. But I did meet new people and strengthened the relationships I had. It has already been neat discussing what I learned with those friends. Here's a substitute if you weren't there: Go read The Rebelution blog! It's the best blog out there! (Corrie, Brooke, Michelle, etc., you didn't read that...)

4. Find the secret Rebelutionaries
There are really people out there with the same goals and aspirations. I became good friends with the E family after K heard my graduation speech. Up until then, I didn't even know we shared a lot of the same beliefs! It might be hard, but "you can find them by being an obvious Rebelutionary." Be proud, be brave.

5. Seek out the godly and wise and serve them and learn from them (can't remember the exact wording. again, those notes would be gold to me...)
While dead people have their place, sometimes it's nice to be able to talk to someone and be able to hear them respond. Who better to mentor you than those godly, wise people who have done the youth thing and learned from it. You can probably find two of them in your house as I type: not your cat and dog, your parents!

6. God is the Ultimate Companion
He's the source, perfecter, and finisher of the Rebelution. Before and when all else fails, He's there to carry us along. He is the source of our strength as we battle against the culture. He's our Savior and Lord--the reason for which we fight.

To end the conference, Gregg Harris challenged parents to become Rebelutionaries as well. Their role might be different, but their part is as big. Psalm 127:3 says, "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of the warrior, so are the children of one's youth." Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, was the writer of that psalm. It was pointed out that the reason why he prized wisdom above all to request it of the Lord was because it was valued by his father, King David. That love was passed down to Solomon as he was instructed by his father to pursue wisdom. Parents are given their children not to patronize, provoke, and spoil (sorry, couldn't think of another 'p' word), they were given them in order to craft, mold, and shape them into the sharpest arrows. Parents need to be prepared to work hard also and be ready to give certain attention to specific parts, such as "work[ing] on the tail end of your arrow occasionally."

"We are in an intergenerational relay race" where the parents are handing off to their youth. Being a Rebelutionary doesn't have an age limit, standing for the Lord is necessary in each generation.