Blog is Born

I entitled this weblog "Growing Young" based on the song of the same name by contemporary Christian artist Rich Mullins. Probably my favorite song from my favorite artist... Rich had a lot of great songs, but this is one of my favorite because it hits us right where we live. We so often think of ourselves as so much more mature than we really are. With a son now in college it has really hit me how we, as a society, have so prolonged adolescence, emphasizing the "experience" of college -- which really just serves to propagate our in-born childish and selfish behaviors, instead of teaching our young people to take on responsibility (financially and otherwise) and striving toward a life calling, instead of just living for the weekend or the next party.

The irony of it all is that Christ calls us, in the gospel of Mark, to become like little children! Ahhh, but he was not talking about our behavior; he was talking about the child-like faith He calls all those who follow him to embrace -- following Him as if there were absolutely no one else to follow. Which in fact, is the case! There is no ONE else to follow! The problem is we make for ourselves plenty of pretend "leaders", little gods with a little "g". We have tried so hard to leave our child behind that we have now grown old - well grounded in worldly wisdom, but lacking in the knowledge that grows us into the people that Christ intended us to be all along. I need to grow young -- and I need to do it every day. I need to let Christ remake me and I need to allow Him to teach me -- and teach me again -- what it means to be wise, what it means to be a man... and what it means to be a child.