Ideals?

There was this guy Steve talking at Celebration Night. As he was speaking, I was thinking "man, how am I going to remember this all...I better not play volley ball or anything, so I can remember it until I can get home and write it down". Well, I played volleyball. And do you think I remember anything? Actually I do...a bit.

His talk was about truth, but for a while, he talked about ideals, beliefs, etc. He mentioned how as young people, we are often very idealistic. We think we know what other people are doing wrong, how we would do things differently, and we are rather stubborn in our beliefs. And yet we very quickly change our ideas, or sacrifice them for the sake of convenience, fun, pressure, or whatever. He told us about the "True Love Waits" campaign. Remember that? I do...it was pretty big in the '90s. I remember seeing videos at youth, and at any concert or big event. Heard numerous speakers talk about it, and apparently there were millions of teens who signed commitment cards. I signed one. A survey was done somewhat recently of twelve thousand of the then teens who had signed the cards...pledging themselves to abstain from sex until marriage...well 88 percent of them didn't keep their promise. Eight eight percent. There is something seriously disturbing about that. Now I don't know all the details of the survey, and naturally I'm a little skeptical, but the fact remains: we have all these ideals, dreams, and rock solid beliefs, but when push comes to shove, we give. The stuff he said really made me think. 'Cause I know I am so like that...idealistic that is. I don't always realize it, but I am. Not so much that I think every one else is doing it all wrong, but I can be both stubborn, and a bit of a dreamer. If I had lived in the sixties, I would have been a hippie for sure. Growing up, I always wanted to be one. Maybe minus the drugs and sex, but definitely the rock and roll, the sweet VW vans, the long hair, and the sweetest clothes ever. Yeah. But how many of those hippies are still hip? How many of them are still fighting "The Man", fighting for peace, living out of a van, keeping it '"simple"? Not too many I'd guess. Nope, they eventually gave up some of those "ideals" to settle down and "bring home the bacon" as Steve was saying tonight. I wish I could bring bacon home with me.

So yeah...not sure where this is going...I guess believe in something worth believing in...something worth fighting...worth living for. And don't sacrifice them for nothing. If you're going to call yourself a Christian, then find out what it means to be one...what Christ himself called you to be, and then spend your life living up to that. Move forward. Be idealistic, but with the things that matter, and not with a "better than thou" attitude.

He said something else that was kind of cool too...something like if you feel like you've got too much head knowledge, and not enough action, ask God to change one area from knowledge to conviction. Without conviction, you can try all you want to make changes, but they won't last...you'll give up. Without conviction, we're lazy and spineless. It's the people with conviction who change the world. Not the ones with courage, strength, education, money, whatever...it's the ones who have come to believe in something so deeply, that they cannot exist without acting upon it.