MY BLOG POSTS

I have a crooked past.

I’m not speaking metaphorically, either.

When I was 12, I went to the doctor because my back hurt. Here’s what we found out:

(That, btw, is a Polaroid picture, for those of you who have never seen one — it’s kind of like a cross between a digital camera and an Etch-a-Sketch)

My spine was 45 degrees off center at the top and 55 degrees off center at the bottom.

Ouch.

So, a week after my thirteenth birthday, I was in the Orlando Regional Medical Center having my back sliced open, my spine fused together, and new-fangled steel rods drilled into my vertebrae.

It hurt. But just for a few weeks. I got over it and, since then, I’ve hardly had any back problems at all.

No, magnets do not stick (my friends tried that when I returned to school). And no, I do not set off the alarms when I go through airport security.

But I do have exceptionally good posture. Even relaxed, I am straight as a board. My mom never had to get on to me about that. No way. Not to mention, when I get older, I won’t shrink, nor will I have a hunch back. So na-na-na-na-na on all you people whose backs bend.

And that is my back story 🙂

I get tired of hearing adults tell teens to “just wait until you get to the real world.” As if teens’ lives are perfect, problem- and stress-free. As a parent of a teen and two tweens, a high school teacher, and a former youth leader, I can say with confidence that the world teens today are living in is full of challenges that are far beyond what many of us have in our daily lives, our “real worlds.”

Teens may not have jobs, but they work 40+ hours a week. Especially the ones in AP or IB courses. Many of them are spending 3-4 hours or more on homework every night. They are also juggling part-time jobs, extracurricular activities and, beginning in 11th grade, college applications. They are spending Saturdays taking ACT and SAT tests, and many spend the weeks leading up to those tests in prep classes to help them improve their scores because getting accepted in the college of your choice is SO much harder now than it was even 15 years ago.

Teens also have to deal with issues in the home – being shuffled from one parent to the next, adjusting to step-siblings, moves, economic shifts. They also have interpersonal struggles. Just like adults have that annoying co-worker or that overly-demanding boss, students have frustrating classmates – some going beyond frustrating to bullying, another major issues teens are forced to deal with – and teachers who make them want to pull their hair out.

I have many students who get up at 5:00am and are on the go until they fall into bed at 11:00pm, only to wake the next day and start all over again. How many of US are that busy? That taxed? Add to that, the pressure to get better grades, do better in their sport or art, do more community service — all so they can get into college and do all this all over again for four more years.

So, adults, let’s go a little easier on the teens in our lives. Don’t condescend to them by making them think all the work, the pressure, the stress that they live with is easier than what they’ll face when they become adults. Instead, empathize with them, help them through these years, lighten their burden instead of adding to it. And don’t ever tell them to “just wait until you get into the real world.”

There’s a lot of information that needs to be kept private: weight, personal hygiene issues, the location of certain scars. Faith, however, should not be kept private. I know we’ve all heard people say otherwise. And they have good reasons: They don’t want to offend people, to create arguments, to be looked down on. And I understand that.

But the truth is, we talk about what is important to us. My daughter, Emma, for example, can talk all day about shopping. She has a passion for fashion. She’s not embarrassed to share that passion with others – even those who could care less. In fact, if someone doesn’t enjoy fashion, she will try to convince them that they should.

We all know people who go on and on about certain topics. We do the same thing, even though we may not realize it. Just get me started on musicals from the ’40s…! It is only natural to speak out loud what fills our thoughts.

So if we are open about what is important to us, and we say we want to keep our faith private, then doesn’t it stand to reason that our faith really isn’t that important to us?

I’m not saying we shove our beliefs down other people’s throats or that we stand on the street corner telling people “The End is Near.” But I am saying that our faith should saturate every aspect of our lives, from the ball fields to the band rooms to the malls. The people we know should know we’re Christians, just as much as they should know we love fashion or old musicals or the Tampa Bay Rays.

Emma gets this, and she’s just 14. She’s not ashamed of the gospel, not with her friends, not on social media, not even with strangers. Her faith is an important part of her life – the most important – and everyone knows it. Is she perfect? Nope. But none of us is perfect. We don’t need to be perfect in order to share our faith.  We do, however, need to be public with it.

I just finished reading a biography of Judy Garland. She is my favorite entertainer and has been for as long as I can remember. If you don’t know who she is (I am clutching my heart in pain at the thought), maybe this will help…

If you still don’t know, then we just can’t be friends.

Judy Garland was an amazing, one in a BILLION talent, but her personal life was disastrous. There are many reasons for that, the biggest of which seems to be that she was constantly seeking approval. She was happy when people liked her and depressed when they didn’t. When she sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” — her trademark song sung from the time she was 16 until her death at 47 — I believe she meant every word. She longed for a place where “troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops.” She truly questioned, “if happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why oh why can’t I?”

If you listen to recordings of her singing this song in her later years, you can hear the longing in her voice, feel the pain. She wanted what the song promised: a better life than what she had.

I wish, for many reasons, that I had been able to meet Judy Garland. More than anything, I wish I could have told her that what she longed for was possible. There is a place beyond our imaginations that is so much better than what we have here. Heaven. God placed in all of us a desire to be there. And, through Jesus, He made it possible to go. And that longing for approval? It cannot be met by any human, but it can be met by her Creator – a God who cares for her more than she can imagine. A Savior who can carry her burdens, free her from her addictions, forgive her for her sins, and give her the unconditional love she so desperately wanted.

I can’t say that to Judy Garland, but I can say it to YOU. Though her talent was exceptional, her struggles are common. They aren’t just the struggles of superstars. So many people are seeking to find fulfillment for their God-given longings for eternity with what is temporary. Reaching out for approval among the sinners instead of accepting it from the Savior. Medicating their pain instead of surrendering it to the One who can trade it for joy. I wish this amazingly talented woman could have known that. She can’t. But you can. And I pray that, if you don’t, you will.