Entry from a Journal of a Semi-Stressed Christian Teen

The title is basically the intro to this post...basically.

So I was thinking today how hard it is to be a teenager and to still be "on fire" for the Lord. The answer I came up with is "it's really tough". I mean think of all the stuff we have to put up with. All the "popular" kids going out and drinking, getting high, and lounging around smoking cigars; parents trying to steer your life where they want it to go, without really asking prior approval; pressure from church to "do what's right"; if you'll be old enough, who to vote for come November. Craziness out the wazoo (yeah, it's a real word. Google it.) It being summer makes it a lot harder. Now you have 8 more hours to do stuff rather than be in school. You could get a job (as if life isn't stressful enough), you can chill out at home (Xbox and Facebook...can life get better?), you chill with friends (especially if it's Wacky Wednesday and Hungry Howies). Craziness out the wazoo (again). So whats a Christian brother supposed to do?

I've found that because it's summer, I have much more time to do stuff I know I shouldn't do. But I also found that I now have no excuse to not be doing stuff I should do.

God has called all of us to try to live the life He displayed for us in the 30 odd years He was on this earth. He called us to "be Holy, as I am Holy". That's a really tough goal. How do you do it? In Matthew 4, you see Jesus in the desert being tempted by Satan. Satan tempts Jesus with even ruling the world, and Jesus said no. How was He able to do that? If you look in the passage, Jesus always quotes Scripture! "For it is written..." WOOBAM!!! Mental note to self: "Know the Word and what it says about stuff I deal with." Now that I don't have to be waking up at 6 in the morning to go to school, I can spend a whole lot more time in the Word! If you look through out the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), Jesus does a lot of going off by Himself and praying. Sure, we can pray wheneve, wherever, however, but there's something about being by yourself and pouring out your worries to God, thanking Him for what He's done in your life. It's awesome.

So...thats the end of this first little entry. I don't even know if anyone's gonna be reading this, but hopefully someone will get something out of it. Hahaha. God bless, peace out.




~Zach