The 180 Blog

2. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

ANOTHER LOOK AT STANDING FIRM - ROSA PARKS

Almost everyone knows who Rosa Parks is. She has become famous for her act of defiance in refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. But I think it's hard for some of us today to really understand how courageous her actions were.

Even though Rosa Parks was living in a fairly modern society, that society was segregated. Segregation is when there are laws that say people of different races do not all have the same privileges. The segregation laws in some parts of the United States during the 1950s kept races separate from each other in many public places. The very idea of segregation is, to me, almost impossible to fathom. I just don't get how in a civilized world something like that could have been going on. With that in mind, let's get back to Rosa Parks' story.

December 1, 1955, started out like any normal day for Rosa Parks. She woke up, got ready for work, and left her house for the bus stop. Each day, she was forced to pay at the front of the bus, then exit and walk up the stairs in the back. I can just imagine her frustration in having to experience that humiliation day after day. Then after a long day of work (she was a secretary for the NAACP), she again would pay at the front, and have to go up the back stairs like a second-class citizen.

Well, on this particular day, she got on the bus after work and sat down. At the next stop, several white people got on. The bus driver glanced back, and told Rosa and the people around her to move. The other African Americans around her stood up and shuffled to the back of the bus. But Rosa stayed seated. The bus driver told her if she didn't get up, he'd have to have her arrested, to which she replied, "Then you may do that."

Rosa refused to give in to this injustice. Some people have suggested she was so weary she couldn't stand up, but that was not the case. It wasn't that she was tired physically; she was just tired of surrendering. When she sat down, she was really standing up for an oppressed people. Her people. She could have just stood up and moved so a white person could have her seat, but she didn't.

Rosa's refusal to give up her seat was one of the turning points in the history of civil rights in the United States. Her one act of quiet, peaceful defiance triggered a series of protests and boycotts, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in which almost all of the black people (and some whites) in Rosa's hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, refused to ride city buses for more than a year. They were tired of segregation, and they refused to put up with it any longer.

I'm afraid there aren't enough people like that today; people willing to stand up for their own rights and the rights of others. Rosa Parks remains an inspiration to those who have the same dream. The dream that one day all of us will not only be able to live together and tolerate one another, but that we will love and stand up for one another as Jesus loved us on the cross.

In her autobiography, Rosa talks about how she hated being the center of attention. But that didn't stop her from continuing to fight for equality by any means. She participated in the famous march Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery. At one point during this march, she was actually put out of the march by someone who didn't know her. You see, the marchers had to wear a special color of jacket in order to participate in the final leg of the march. Rosa was not informed about this, and was kicked out several times, only to be pulled back in by someone who knew her.

I once read that when Rosa Parks was a child, her grandfather used to sit awake at night with a gun on his lap, in order to protect his family from the Ku Klux Klan. Surely her life was marked by oppression and discrimination. Yet rather than being overcome by bitterness and hatred, she chose to act for justice for herself and others.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? LIVING OUT STANDING FIRM TODAY

A lot of us are willing to stand up for ourselves, for our own rights and concerns. But are we willing to stand firm on behalf of others?

When Adolf Hitler was rising to power in Germany, a German pastor named Martin Niemöller became aware that Jews and other racial and political groups were being persecuted, arrested, and even killed because of Hitler's racist policies. Niemöller became one of the leaders of the Confessing Church, a group of Christians within Germany who vocally opposed Hitler. Because of his outspoken criticism, Niemöller himself was locked away in a concentration camp from 1937 to 1945, and narrowly escaped execution. After he was released, he wrote the following poem about the need to stand against evil:

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up,
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time
there was no one left to speak up for me.

Many students these days stand up for things. They stand up for their favorite bands, brands, and their own personal "rights." But are these things really worth your time, energy, and commitment? Is that the kind of "hill you want to die on"? I didn't think so. Is it better to stand up for someone or something that is right or to stand up for yourself? What if we put more energy toward the things that really matter instead of spending so much energy on petty things?

I can tell you what would happen. There would be a lot fewer hungry people, a lot fewer dying children, and a lot fewer slaves in the world. If we spent more time putting our heads together and less time butting them, think of what we could accomplish! We could do so much with the time we often spend on petty things.

Is there anything you're willing to stand for (or sit for, as was the case with Rosa Parks)? I hope it has something to do with contributing to the greater good and not just expanding your own territory.

This doesn't just apply to big issues like slavery; it can apply to many other day-to-day situations. If you see someone picking on the smallest guy in the grade, you stand up for him, right? If someone makes a racist comment, you speak up, right? And if someone makes fun of Jesus Christ, you don't tolerate it.

We're under an immense pressure to conform to this world's way of doing things. If we don't go along, we might get mocked. (Oh no! Not that! Anything but that!) Plain and simple: We should stand firm for what is right, just because it is right.

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58

**

Taken from "Be the Change" by Zach Hunter, copyright 2007 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here.


3. SURF REPORT

~ Ignite Your Faith

~ Planet Wisdom Movie Reviews

4. VIDEO OF THE WEEK

And you thought we have had a cold winter! Check this out.




5. FORGETTABLE FACT

A diet high in fat is said to impede memory.


6. POTENT QUOTABLES

"Consider the postage stamp, my son. It secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there."
~ Josh Billings

"When you come to a fork in the road...Take it."
~ Yogi Berra

"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
~ Abraham Lincoln

===========our|sponsor===========

BE THE CHANGE

Many people think teenagers aren't capable of much. But Zach Hunter is proving those people wrong. Zach is working to end slavery in the world--and he's making changes that affect millions of people. Let your students find out how Zach is making a difference and how they can make changes to the things that they see wrong with our world.

Learn more about or purchase the book "Be the Change" here.

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7. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?

Two molecules are walking down the street and they run in to each other. One says to the other, "Are you all right?"

"No, I lost an electron!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive!"

2. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

SAVED BY A WEDGIE

I'm probably one of the only people on the planet whose life was actually saved by a wedgie. Seriously.

I'm not normally a big fan of wedgies. Over the years I've received hundreds of them, ranging from harmless, wimpy wedgies when my waistband was barely moved to an atomic wedgie at summer camp. One time my underwear was pulled over my head, and I could actually feel my spleen being bruised. I have truly experienced the full gamut of undergarment discomfort. (I'm not necessarily proud of that.) But there was one wedgie I was actually happy to get.

It happened one fateful day when I had gone on vacation with my Uncle Stan and Aunt Diane. We had gone to Six Flags, and on the way home we stopped to swim at a place in southern Oklahoma called Turner Falls. It was a nasty hot summer day. The place was crowded with people looking for a break from the heat. We were having a great time. We were swimming around next to a beautiful waterfall.

Everything was cool, but then suddenly, I hit a drop-off. I was bobbing up and down and flailing around my arms, trying to grab hold of somebody or something. Everybody was just looking at me. I wasn't (and still am not) a great swimmer, so I was drowning.

My life literally passed before my eyes, and I remember thinking, "Wow! This is so sad. I'm going to die without ever growing facial hair." At that point in my young life, my major goal was to grow a mustache, because to my friends, that was the epitome of all that is manly. Note: This goal was finally achieved when I was about 19. I grew a patchy little 'stache. It looked like a greasy caterpillar was hanging onto my upper lip for dear life.

I was sinking like a brick when suddenly I felt my underwear and my cutoff denim shorts being pulled up so forcefully they pulled the rest of my chubby body with them. Uncle Stan had seen me drowning from the beach and, in an amazing display of superhuman speed, had burst from the beach to where I was. I was waving my arms like a wild, scared, little spider monkey, so he couldn't grab me from the front. I would have taken both of us down in my desperation. So he did what he had to do to rescue me. Uncle Stan reached out and grabbed me by the back of my shorts and pulled as hard as he could, and he literally saved my life by giving me a wedgie. It wasn't pretty or comfortable, but it saved me.

SOMETHING TO STAND ON

Since then I've been in many other helpless situations--physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially. Times when things were out of my control and I felt like I was a desperate, little spider monkey waving my arms and crying out for help. My Creator has always been there to rescue me. But usually he does it in ways I wouldn't have expected or chosen.

Sometimes when God rescues us, he does it in ways we don't understand. It might be a little uncomfortable. It might even temporarily hurt--like a "soul wedgie." My uncle, in his amazing lifesaving wisdom, knew that if he had tried to grab me from the front or by the arms, I would have pulled us both down. So he came at me from behind and grabbed my shorts. I didn't expect it. I didn't enjoy it. But it was what I needed, and it's what saved me.

When we're going down, God, who is good and mysterious, reaches out and rescues us. And sometimes it's not comfortable, but it's what we need. It's the hurt that brings healing.

Jeremiah 32:17 says, "Ah, sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." When we're in trouble, it's an impossible situation, and God stretches out his arm toward us. What a cool picture! God saves us, and sometimes, it feels a little like a soul wedgie--but it's okay because he is the lifesaver and knows how to save us.

So how do we react? Do we get upset or embarrassed or angry because we don't understand the way God rescues us? I'll tell you what I did in the near-drowning. I was forever grateful. Uncle Stan saved my life by giving me a wedgie.

That was a long time ago, and we've spent a lot of time together. Uncle Stan was there when my daughter was born--he was also there when my dad died. We've been through a lot of stuff. I respect him as a great man. I admire the way he has lived his life and treated his family.

Many things have happened since then, but I can't look at my uncle without thinking, This is the man who once saved my life. Because of what he did, I got to live; I got to meet my wife and daughter; I got to do life with a lot of beautiful people; I got to write this book. I'm forever grateful. The temporary pain of a wedgie is gone, but the gratitude remains.

It's the same with God. I rarely understand what he's doing in my life, but I can't ever help thinking, This is the God who saved my life. Because of what he did and what he does, I get to live. I'm forever grateful.

**

Taken from "I AM Standing Up" by Luke Lang, copyright 2009 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here.


3. SURF REPORT

~ Planet Wisdom

~ Crunchy Roll


4. BIRTHDAYS

We've got one birthday shout out this week, and it goes out to Jerielle Raibley! We wish you the BEST Jerielle. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

5. FORGETTABLE FACT

Pepsi-Cola was originally called ‘Brad's drink.'


6. POTENT QUOTABLES

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
~ Albert Einstein

"Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods."
~ C.S. Lewis

===========our|sponsor===========

I AM STANDING UP

Maybe you have days when you don't feel so good about yourself... You're not as tall or thin as you'd like, or maybe you don't quite fit in or you just get left out. Well, you'll start to feel a lot better about yourself once you start reading about Luke! Luke knows what it's like to feel left out or left behind. But he's got a great sense of humor about his life's misadventures, and he's sharing the hysterical stories with you, in the hopes that you'll feel encouraged because you'll see that God can do extraordinary things through people who are pretty ordinary.

Learn more about or purchase the book "I AM Standing Up" here.

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7. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?

Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?