God - MTV

I had a moment in Austin MN soon after Lizzie and I returned from Pine Ridge that I'd like to share. I was walking outside my friends Hopes' parents house, and I looked up at the sky and my eyes started to tear up. For a reason I can't quite explain. By myself in the middle of an average American town, my soul was stirred. It's a feeling I am starting to attribute to change. That somehow when I go new places or meet new people or experience new things, something within me is stirred. I'm currently in Philadelphia and I have been moved by a number of things on this trip, all of which I attribute to my current change of scenery. I'm going to try and post a few of them throughout my time here but I'll start with just one. I watched an episode of 16 & Pregnant on MTV. It's a show that follows a young girl/couple who are pregnant. They show a few months leading up to the birth and a few after. It is heart-wrenching*.It made my skin crawl thinking what if this was my child. In the episode I watched it was so obivious that the boy/father-to-be did not care about the girl/mother-to-be. He was always rude, rarely came around, and even made her feel self conscious about her body image. The climax of the show comes when the boy texts messages the girl with a slew of insults and a demand to longer be part of there "mistake." Immaturity looks horrible. When I watch these kids deal with there situation it breaks my heart. I feel lucky to have escaped those teenage years with very few scars. All this to say that the evil in this world is so ugly and so painful, that when I watch a TV show I can't help but think God how can THIS be made right. I hope that from the deepest darkest cracks that are/will be inflicted on this baby girl, God will plant seeds and those seeds will bloom into beautiful flowers, more beautiful then I could ever imagine.

*I believe reality TV isn't really reality, and I'm sure some of it is scripted or planned but there is something about these young kids and the situation there in which is so real, that even though MTV is there to produce a show, these kids are faced with a situation that leads to a realness rarely seen on TV.

You may be wondering how I attribute these thoughts to my change of scenery. Well, I would probably never have watched that show back home, and even if I had I wouldn't have taken the time alone with my thoughts to really think about these kids. I understand there are things in this world of greater concern and that time spent thinking about MTV shows may not be of great value to some, but for who I am right now, this was a gift. It makes me thankful for my parents, it makes me scared for Nash, and it humbles me before a God who loves me in my rebellion. Who leads my in my immaturity. Who corrects me in my self righteousness. Thank You God.