"I believe the children are our future..."

If you're the around same age I am, you have the screeching stylings of Whitney Houston singing "Greatest Love of All" burned somewhere into the recesses of your brain. You've tried to bury it, but it's there.

Candy-pop though it was, there was a part of that song that spoke to us. The opening line was about us: "I believe the children are our future..." We were those kids and the world was our oyster. Back in high school, however, it seemed like we were always waiting for our time to arrive. We weren't particularly oriented towards activism - especially since I don't think we held many opinions (besides the cultural need for more BugleBoy jeans) strongly enough to care. Even in college, people my age seemed to talk a lot but the bluster never translated to action. Now, we're increasingly aged adults with mortgages, cell phones, and who just want a nice lawn for Pete's sake!

My friends know I'm someone with regrets about largely frittering away the 8 years between sixteen and twenty-four. We've got the truck outta the ditch and are making progress, but I can't help feeling that we're behind schedule sometimes.

With all that background, you can imagine my respect for youth today who are jumping into the pool and making a difference. I stumbled across The Rebelution this past fall in the midst of the Noah Riner hullabaloo here at the office. The posts from Alex, Brett, and their guests are always challenging and well-written. The maturity in their convictions and writing makes it easy to forget their youth.

If you're reading this post and you're a teen, you should join up. If you're a parent (like Eva and me), let's accept the challenge to build in our children a deep, radical devotion to Christ that will overflow into culture-confronting behavior. If you're none of the above, let's applaud and support these young men and women who really are the future.

"Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." Eph 5:8b-11, ESV