Thoughts from the Rebelution

I realize this is a long post, so if you skim it or don't read it at all, that's fine. I posted this partly for your encouragement and partly so I wouldn't forget.

Last weekend was one to be remembered for a lifetime. But in order for you to understand how wonderful it was for me, I must go back a couple years.

When I was in 10th grade, I was sitting in my English class and we were going over the vocabulary for that week. Nothing out of the ordinary, until we came to the word “Transcend.”

“It means to rise above or go beyond” Mrs. Bush informed us.

My mind instantly began to consume this word. My definition was more like a lifestyle. The thought occurred to me, “what if the youth of today adapted this word; transcending mediocrity and the standards the world has set for them?” It could be huge.

I began planning. I was writing songs and lesson plans that all centered around this idea of “transcending.” I don’t know how, but around the same time, I came across Colossians 3. “Set your minds on things above.” This was no accident.

A friend of my mom said to me, “You know, there’s these two brothers out there... their names are Alex and Brett Harris and they have something called The Rebelution. They have great hair.” I checked out their site... it was cool, and they did have great hair.

I started talking to my youth pastor about this transcend idea. He seemed to like it. “You know,” he said, “these brothers Alex and Brett Harris have this thing called The Rebelution and it basically says the same thing you’re talking about.”

The irrational part of me didn’t like this. Alex and Brett "stole" my idea and were getting more publicity. (talk about transcending...) but that was not the biggest concern. I still had a passion. So, my youth pastor made a dream come true for me and for Vacation Bible College adapted this Transcend idea as the main theme.

I quickly found out what his lessons were gonna be about so I could write a song for each day. I was so excited. This was finally happening.

Well, the week came and went. It was awesome. We were all challenged to rise above, myself included.


So now fast-forward to last weekend.


I had been keeping up with Alex and Brett’s blog and read that their final Rebelution tour would be happening this summer, kicking off in Orlando. My mom found this out, too, and began brainstorming on how to get me there. Everything fell in place, and suddenly I was in the car with my mom, my best friend Leah, and my two cousins headed toward Orlando.

Well actually, we were headed for Cocoa Beach for some shopping the day before. And man, was that an awesome day. I got my Dunkin Donuts, Chickfila, and TacoBell fix, got some new threads, meandered around Target, and then ended a perfect day with a swim in the hot tub. Ahhhhh.

The following morning came way to quickly. Since we were an hour away from Orlando and still had to register a couple people, we had to leave the house at 6:45am. I don’t know how, but we managed to get 5 girls ready by then.

The ride over was filled with some singing and lots of Lord of the Rings Discussion (one of the many books/movies I have never read/seen, and thus had no valuable information or opinion to bring to the table).

We arrived in time to get some chicken minis from Chickfila, register the girls, write out our name tags, and get settled. I followed my mom down to the fifth row. Inside I knew something big was about to happen, but I had no idea what.

The conference kicked off with some songs I didn’t know, and then out they walked... Alex and Brett. Legends in my world of Transcending. They went through some housekeeping guidelines and explained that each wireless remote that each person from ages 12-18 held in their hand for poll taking... yeah those things... each one cost $100.00, so they must be returned and that they (Alex and Brett) had high expectations for each kid returning them. They gave away some books and some T-shirts using a pump-rocket to pick the lucky winner. Then we took a ten minute break.

Alex lead the first session: The Myth of Adolescence. Here’s just a snippet from the notes I took.... I must apologize for I am a sporadic note taker. Be thankful you don’t have to read my handwriting.

"100 years ago, there was no category for teens. They were expected to do an adult’s job. Modern Youth Culture says “Keep them entertained for five years.” The current ceiling is where the floor should be. The Bible doesn’t address teens. No categories for them. 1 Corinthians 13:11 “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” NOT: When I became a teenager, I looked like an adult, talked like an adult, but acted like a child.... what?! We have been called to be exemplary. (1 Tim 4:12... all of it) This is our launching pad."

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Then Brett came out and did the second session: Do Hard Things. Again, here’s some notes.

Life as we know it; what has changed? These challenges you face today are no bigger than back then. (honestly, when I heard that I thought to myself, “prove it”) If you take a large and a small container and fill them both up half way with water, which is holding more? Neither. They each are half full. The complexity of our problems has changed. The difficulty has not. We’ve grown with our challenges. The most radical (and only) growth that takes place is when you are outside of your comfort zone. Our culture expects more of babies than it does of teenagers. Have you really found your limits? Or are you just where others expect you to be? Whatever God is calling you to do, why aren’t you doing it?!? What God has placed in you, you must pull out for yourself. Society won’t help you pull it out. The testing of your faith develops perseverance. It’s a muscle. You don’t get anything without effort.

Hard Things:

1) Fighting sin in your life
2) Battling discouragement and complacency
3) Doing more than what's required
4) Getting over your fear of failure (Proverbs 24:16 "for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again..."
5) Focus on the small things
6) chose your best life (not your easiest life)

Call normal what is normal. Save the word "excellent" for the things that really are.
God's standard isn't to be the best, but to be holy.
You never have an excuse to stop. Never enough.
It's not about what you're not doing, it's about what you're doing.
There is always something harder to do.
If you want to get stronger, you can't lift what's heavy for others. You have to lift what's heavy for you.
It's ok to fail at hard things. Push to failure.

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Once the session was over my mom insisted that I go up and get Brett Harris to sign my book. I was reluctant. I get so nervous in these situations of meeting famous people. But I didn’t really have a choice. Mom basically grabbed my arm and dragged me up there. There were only three or four people in front of me, all shoving their books and pens in Brett’s face. I was praying that I wouldn’t say anything stupid. Finally, it was my turn.

“Hi, could you sign this for me?” I somehow managed to get those words out without my voice cracking or tripping over my tongue.

“Sure!” He began signing away. “Thanks for coming!”

“Oh, thanks for doing this! It’s been great... really encouraging. Would you have time for a picture?”


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We ate our picnic lunch and talked about how wonderful the conference had been so far. Seriously, it was some of the best speaking I have ever heard.

Then Brett lead session three: The You That is Really You.

"What does the real YOU really want? Every creature is bound by its nature to want what it wants. You can't want something you don't want. Ezekiel 36:23-27; 1 John 3:10; 3:14-18. You can tell where someone's heart is by whether they are practicing righteousness. Are you trying to get better at practicing righteousness or practicing sinning? Or are you a fruit-stapler? (ex: a crab-apple tree with sweet apples stapled to it's branches; a wolf in sheep's clothing) 1 Tim 3:1-5. The real you will eventually be exposed."

I eventually noticed that Brett was starting to focus on an audience within the audience... those that had yet to place their faith in Christ. He gave a beautiful presentation of the Gospel. Thorough and personal. Brett took a poll asking the audience about their relationship with God. How often do you pray because you know God is real and listens? How often do you read His Word because it’s life-giving? How often do you obey Him because you know it’s the right thing to do? Often? Every now and then? Never?

Conviction.

I looked over to the next row and noticed a young boy, about 11 or 12 years old, crying. God was obviously working in his life.

Then Brett asked how many of those in the room knew for certain that they had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. About 75% answered yes. Of the 25% remaining, Brett asked how many would like to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. If I remember correctly, 90% (105 people) answered yes. And that’s only the people who had a remote. Brett did something that I have never seen done before. Previously, he had mentioned Romans 10:9:

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

So with that in their minds, Brett said:

“Normally, during this time, every head would be bowed, every eye closed, and those who want to make a decision would simply raise their hand. But if you can slip into the Kingdom that easily, you can slip out of the Kingdom that easily. So, with the lights on and every eye open, I want those who want to follow Christ to stand and yell ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ and the rest of you, I want you to not applaud.”

Three people stood up that I could see, including the young boy I had mentioned earlier, and said with conviction “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Then one by one, all around the room, I could hear “Jesus Christ is Lord.” “Jesus Christ is Lord.” “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Brett extended the invitation saying “Some of you parents need to make a decision.” Then he waited.

“Jesus Christ is Lord.”

After a slight lull, Brett gave the invitation one more time.

“Oh God, break these chains” I prayed.

I heard two more confess “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Brett said a few more words. Then he said, “I know everyone is dying to jump up and shout ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ so on the count of three.....”

One....

Two...

Three...

An overwhelming feeling came over me as I jumped to my feet and reaffirmed my faith saying, “Jesus Christ is Lord” I couldn’t shout cause I was fighting back so many tears.

Those who had just placed their faith in Christ were called to the front. As they made their way up we sang “My chains are gone; I’ve been set free.”

I don't know how to appropriately move on from that special moment. But there was one more session. A type of "where do we go from here?" session. Very helpful, to me especially, since it went beyond the teen years (seeing how I am no longer a teen.)

Session four: What Does it Mean to be A REBELUTIONARY?

1) This year. What's next?

*Find the secret rebelutionaries (by being an obvious one) 2 Tim 2:22
*Make friends with heros and dead people (Read. A lot.) 1 Cor 11
*Change SOMETHING. Not temporary. Might mean a change in your surroundings.

2) This year. Lifestyle--what does it look like?

*Doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. It's a commitment to excellence and integrity. Faithfulness over success.
*Saying "no" to conflicting obligations. Hebrews 12:1
*Looking for opportunities to grow. Take on challenges. Pursue opportunities that glorify God.

3) This decade. How does it apply beyond the teen years?
Faithful with little --> faithful with much.

*Being strategic to bust the myth of adolescence. Humbly. An exception only proves the rule.
*Focused on preparing the future
*Don't be paralyzed. Not afraid to commit. "Just do something"

The teen years are not about the teen years. Again, this is the launching pad.

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We left the conference, grabbed some Chipotle, and were on the road. It was over just like that. But it wasn't over. It was just beginning. Or, rebeginning, I suppose I should say. Where had the passion gone from when I was in high school to see people my age rise above the world's expectations for them? There it was. I came to grips with the fact that it had been a long time since I had done a "hard thing." It was easy while I was in high school. Well, not "easy" but easier than now, since expectations were so low for people my age. Not that I did what I did to be noticed, but I think people were easily impressed.

After I graduated, I didn't know where to go. I began to slack off. I easily found excuses to not follow my conviction of rising above. I suppose my mind set was "You worked hard in high school.... you need to catch your breath for a while." Well, that while is up. It hasn't been hard to find hard things to do since I left the Rebelution. I'm scarred to recommit, but I am more scared to be one of those "kiddults" Alex and Brett talked about... those who are in their twenties and are still children. No responsibility. No purpose. Well, I have a purpose, and I need to live it out. Praise God, I am ready to do hard things.