Hasty Generalization

OK, it happened again. There is a party going on right down downstairs in our house, and the way my desk is I can hear everything, but the visitors can't see me. A guy was talking to my father, and asked about his children (me!). When my dad listed off our names and ages, the man said, "Oh, it must be real tough around here with three teenage boys." My dad simply said "Actually, it hasn't been that bad." This was a customer, after all. :)
What annoys me about this statement is that it's a hasty generalization. The speaker completely assumes that teenage boys are disrespectful, recalcitrant, and resistant to any semblance of obedience. Given that he is talking about me, I find it rude of him to judge my character without ever seeing me; to condemn my behavior just because he knows I'm 18 years old.

Maybe the sad thing in all this is that our culture expects this behavior. The standard for teenage boys right now is in the gutter. They are not relied on to do chores around the house, obey the first time, listen, and stay out of trouble. In fact, bad behavior is expected of them. Is it any surprise that many act like this? (no personal experience, I assure you)
I felt like running downstairs, presenting myself in front of the man in my school clothes, and politely asking, "Do I look like I'm a youth gone astray?" I didn't of course, because it was a customer. Though, funnily enough, if what he had said was true I probably would have been bold and rude enough to do it.

A semi-related comic to make you laugh:

Seek Ye First the Kingdom

Church was really good today. Our youth group had a visiting missionary, Brad, talk about priorities. He is a missionary with Navigators who works with Colorado college students; I forget which particular campus. Brad related really well to our age group - he was very funny and seemed to understand what issues we were facing. He certainly knew his audience very well. When he first got up he spoke about three sentences (each of which made us laugh) and then asked a question. We liked him enough in that short time that two or three people raised their hands immediately. I wish I was that friendly and persuasive as a speaker...

If his talk could be boiled down to one verse, it would be Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Exactly what I needed to hear. He talked about priorities, and making the Word of God THE foremost thing in our lives as Christians. Brad encouraged me to put off childish things, and do what God desires first. He told a funny, but true story about his time in the army. On the military base there was free bowling, and since in his tiny hometown he couldn't afford to go to the bowling alley, he took it up in the army. Every Thursday night he would go out and bowl; that is, until his spiritual mentor asked him to come evangelize in the barracks on Thursdays. After Brad voiced his objections, his mentor asked, "Do you think God want bowlers or evangelists?" And so he preached the gospel on Thursdays.
It's so much easier to see this type of wasted time in other's lives, when often I do it in my own without realizing it. Today, I have a lot of work so I pray to God that I may work diligently and do his things first.

Two comments the speaker made that don't fit anywhere else in this blog (but hey, that's the nature of a blog, isn't it?):
1) When you lead people to Christ, at first all they see is you. Eventually, you are a conduit to Jesus and then they know Jesus for themselves. Right at the beginning, however, you are all they see.
2) Most pastors study all week in order to say something clever on Sunday, sound good, and keep their job. Exemplary pastors study the Word of God, apply it to their lives, and then preach from that overflow. They truly keep kingdom things first in their own lives, and therefore are more effective teachers when instructing others.

Presidential Scholar Award, and other news

Hey all
First the good news - I got a surprise in a the mail a few days ago saying that I was a candidate for the US Department of Education's Presidential Scholar program. Only about 2,700 candidates are chosen from 2.8 million high school students, or less than .1%; so I was honored and pleased. In March a boy and a girl are chosen out of the candidates from each state to fly to Washington D.C. with their favorite teacher. God, of course, has given me all my abilities and the glory for this honor goes to Him. We'll see if it's in His plan that I go to Washington.

The bad news is that this program requires a huge application - larger than any college app I did. They have a few pages of biographical information, 4 half-page essays, and a two page essay. It will take a lot of time to fill out, and right now I just don't have it. Life has been exceedingly crazy with basketball, and school, and life in general. I'm trying to prep for the Rennaisance Fair at Petra (maybe write a declamation, at least play music and do an oratory piece), work on the same piece of music and write a speech about apologetics for the Petra dinner, keep my grades up at Petra (and stay awake during class), do a bunch of homework for TeenPact, handle the house while my parents are in Australia, and compete in the state basketball tournament all in the next couple weeks. So yea. I haven't been doing any reading, getting minimal sleep, not really blog posting, my muscles ache, I'm falling further behind, and worst of all, the verb tenses in my conjoined phrases don't match. lol