Brothers and Sisters: Introduction

Brett and I are very excited to announce a new series of posts by Sarah, Stephen, and Grace Mally, sibling co-authors of the book Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, who kindly took some time out of their busy schedule to write several posts specifically for our readers here on The Rebelution. We are so glad they did.

“Sarah, I am trying to apply God’s ways to my life,” a young lady told me recently, a bright smile on her face. We talked for several minutes as she enthusiastically shared what the Lord was doing in her life.

Yet suddenly her smile faded into a look of distress, and with frustration she explained, “But Sarah, the hardest thing for me, the very hardest thing, is getting along with my younger sister.” As I tried to give her a few ideas about how she might be able to improve this relationship, she repeated emphatically that it was just so hard.

It is hard. In fact, many young people say that getting along with their siblings is one of the hardest things for them to do. But as rebelutionaries, our goal cannot simply be to “get along” or “survive” with our brothers and sisters, but rather to make them our closest friends.

It doesn’t take long to realize, however, that this isn’t going to be easy. The only way to succeed in these relationships, is by being willing to do hard things. Below are three of the most important—yet very hardest—things to do.

• Part 1: Saying "I Was Wrong" by Sarah
• Part 2: Respond Correctly to Irritations by Grace
  
• Part 3: Let Someone Else Win by Stephen

Over the course of this three-part series, my siblings and I will be taking a closer look at each of these "hard things." We hope you'll join us.

Be sure to check back on Monday for the first installment of the the new series, Brothers and Sisters. While you wait check out Sarah, Stephen, and Grace's ministry website: www.brothersandsisters.net

"Thank You" from Brittany McComb

Earlier this evening, Brittany posted a "thank you" message on her Myspace to all of her friends and to others supporting her stand. Praise God for her Christ-honoring attitude. And please, remember to keep Brittany in your prayers.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 - (9:03 PM)

I am writing tonight to give everyone one big, huge, heartfelt thank you. All of the support and encouragement I have received lifts my spirits and urges me to continue to focus on Christ and His love and His plan. And this is where I get my energy and drive to continue forward with all of this. Because the truth is, I wasn't angry that my freedom of speech was denied. I was determined to follow the convictions of my heart, the urging of the Holy Spirit to share God's amazing, all encompassing, forgiving in all circumstances, love.

All of your encouragment has led me to want to encourage you. The stand I took was one small step, one small yes to God's call. After I took this step you all joined in this fight. It amazes me, it astounds me what God is doing, how He took an event where man denied Him and turned it around for His own glory. He truly is all powerful.

When we realize we are nothing, God makes us something. David tells us "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" in Psalm 51:17. Just know that all those who have told me they respect and admire me, the one who you respect and admire is truly Christ in me. I am nothing without Him. But, it rouses every sense in my soul to think that I am EVERYTHING with Him. I have everything I will ever need, every bit of strength, every word that needs uttering, every thought, every smile, every tear, every bit of compassion. And all that I need to do is tap into His source of power- his Word. Reading his word, sitting silent in His presence, worshiping His name with His people...He will give you all you need for this fight and for this life.

Continue to pray that Christians will be victorious in this fight, that we will be able to proclaim His name, by law, anywhere and everywhere we feel compelled to do so. He says to us, "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession." -Psalm 2:8...Ask and I will. Not ask and I might. Not Ask and I will put it ahead of you to run after and catch. Ask and I will.

In Christ alone, always and forever,

Brit

For full coverage of Brittany's valedictorian speech, click here.

Video: Brittany McComb on the Today Show

Watch Brittany McComb on the Today Show. Clicking on the snapshot will take you to the MSNBC.com media center. To download the Quicktime version (.mov) click here.
(HT: Counting Stones of Faith)

For full coverage of Brittany McComb's valedictorian speech, click here.

Video: Brittany McComb Speech and Crowd Reaction

UPDATE: Watch the extended video of the speech:

-- Click Here --

NBC5i.com has footage from Brittany McComb's speech (read our full coverage). To launch the streaming Windows Media file (.asx) click on the snapshot above or use this link.*

The video itself is slightly confusing, jumping between several clips and cutting the audio several times, seemingly for no reason. A few things remain very clear, however:

• The cheers and applause that greeted Brittany's last audible line: "God's love is so great that he gave His only son up..."
• The crowd's response to Brittany's mic being cut. Many in the audience began to boo, including a woman who is clearly heard yelling, "Turn the mic back on!"
  

The end of the video shows Brittany with her parents outside, being interviewed, and holding her speech, handwritten on index cards.

NOTE: If any of our more tech-savvy or Windows-using readers (we're not very familiar with Windows) have a better way of making this video (or other videos) viewable/downloadable, let us know.

Brittany never got to Card #10, which reads "... life to the fullest. I now desire not my own will but the will of God for my life - however crazy or extravagant or seemingly mundane and uneventful that may prove..." (read the full speech)

*If you are a Mac user and don't have Window Media Player, download Flip4Mac from the Microsoft website to view the WMV/WMA files in Quicktime. For Flip4Mac users, you can download the video by clicking here.

For full coverage of Brittany McComb's valedictorian speech, click here.

Video: Brittany McComb on Hannity & Colmes

You can watch Brittany McComb on Hannity and Colmes, hosted by YouTube (click the screenshot or click here).

UPDATE: If you prefer, download the Windows Media (.wmv) version by clicking here (HT: exposingtheleft.com).

An excerpt from the interview:

Sean Hannity: They want to silence you! What does that tell about our society right now? That you can talk about anything but that.

Brittany: I agree, it's just... You know, I've succeeded in school, I've succeeded in a lot of areas, and I attribute it all to Christ and all to that foundation in my life. A lot of my knowledge is based on Biblical truths, and that's how I feel I did well in school. And I just wanted to tell my fellow classmates that.

Hannity: So in the middle of the speech, you mention God and Jesus Christ and your mic goes dead, they just cut it off. So what was the reaction of the crowd?

Brittany: Well, when I started talking about God's love and how unprejudiced and merciful and free and huge and just amazing it is, the crowd started cheering and they got excited and that was really encouraging. And when I started to talk about Christ, which is how God's love is manifested, in my opinion, they got angry and they cut off the mic.

For full coverage of Brittany McComb's valedictorian speech, click here.

Technical Difficulties: Commenting "Malfunction"

Imagine for a moment a dark-haired, brown-eyed young man, about 17 years old, sitting in front of a white iBook laptop in an apartment in Alabama and experimenting with the commenting features for his blog.

Imagine this young man innocently clicking on "Beta Features" and, being full of curiosity, enabling the first feature he sees: comment moderation.

Further, imagine this young man exiting his browser and -- in the hustle and bustle of the work he is doing -- promptly forgetting all about enabling comment moderation and its consequences.

Finally, imagine the feeling in this young man's stomach when he remembers what he had done (two and a half weeks later) and realizes that there are over 30 comments that neither he nor his brother had seen or responded to -- all pending his "moderation" before they would appear on the blog.

You can stop imagining.

Sadly, the above story is all too real. You see, I (Alex) am that dark-haired, brown-eyed young man and I did, in fact, enable comment moderation two and a half weeks ago and promptly forget all about it.

My deep apologies to everyone who has commented over the past several weeks and not received a response.

As of this evening, at 11:30 PM (PST), all comments have been restored and comment moderation has been disabled. Commenting will now work as it did before and questions will be answered shortly.

Thank you all for your forbearance. God bless you!

Teen Bloggers Win National Championships

Our host recently upgraded servers, which caused the blog to be "un-updateable" for several days. The following post was written on June 13.

This past week, June 5-9, the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association (NCFCA) held their National Speech and Debate Championship Tournament at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, VA.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the NCFCA is a highly-competitive league of some of the most competetent young communicators in the country. Participants begin competition at local tournaments where the top competitors qualify for a regional tournament, and from there, can qualify to compete at the national tournament in June.

Brett and I competed at the national level for three years. Many of our best friends today were made through competing at various tournaments around the country. The "myth of adolescence" was originally developed as a 10-minute platform speech in the Persuasive speaking category. There are few things that God used more to prepare us for the hard things we are attempting now than our years of participation in the NCFCA.

This year's National Tournament was the first one Brett and I have not attended in four years. However, we are pleased to share with you the success of several rebelutionary teen bloggers, each of whom did incredibly well.

Cody Herche and Rachel Heflin of Legal Redux won the Team Policy Debate Championship. This is not only the most prestigious event in the league, but also the most competitive. Brett and I are so proud of Cody and Rachel's hard work, their pursuit of excellence, and most importantly, their firm commitment to glorifying God in all they do. Congratulations, dear friends!

Karen Kovaka of Rhetorical Response won the National Championship in Apologetics -- the defense of the Christian faith. Karen has consistently demonstrated her love for God's Word and devotion to Truth. It is a blessing for us to see God honoring her for that commitment. Congratulations, Karen!

Marshall Sherman of Advancing His Kingdom is officially the nation's funniest homeschooler, winning the Humorous Interpretation National Championship with his parody of the Lone Ranger. Congratulations, Marshall!

What Brett and I appreciate most about each of these young people is their correct understanding of the NCFCA (and other activities like it) as a stepping stone to the higher calling God has for their lives. They have not only developed their communication and thinking skills, but they are applying them, through their blogs and through other real-life endeavors. That's what makes them rebelutionary.

Be sure to visit each of their blogs and congratulate them for their hard work and well-deserved recognition. God bless you all!