To my students, on their first day of school

You got up before me this morning-- maybe you wondered what you should wear, what you needed to take with you.  Maybe, like me, you wrestled with your hair.  Maybe you're nervous.  Maybe you're excited.  Maybe those feelings have been mixed so deeply, you're not sure where one begins and the other ends.

It's your first day back to school.

For some of you, you're starting middle school-- a time of reinvention.  For some of you, you're starting high school-- a time of reinvention.  Again.  For some of you, you're back where you were last year, a little older, a little wiser, a little bit ready for the routine of it all, and simultaneously dreading the homework, and the school politics, and the early wake-up time.

You woke up, and you made your way back into brick buildings filled with individuals who are ready to instruct you, to teach you, to help you grow.  Filled with individuals who are ready to befriend you, love you, and model themselves after you.  And I woke up, wrestled with my hair, and hit the coffee shop where I write my messages.

We both began again today.  We started somewhere new, somewhere familiar, somewhere bigger than we're used to, somewhere that already feels too small to hold us.  And we began- again.  I sit here, with a cup of coffee and my headphones on, and I begin to believe that there is something wonderful in store for you.  Something deeply indescribable- something wonderful- the cusp of a great adventure.

And so today, on your first day of school, I have many hopes for you... but one I will carry in my heart for each of you this year:  be brave. Refuse to be sharpened by that which does not help your being.  Arm yourselves with love.  Learn from your mistakes.  Be 100% you.

Because who you are... you're enough.  You're wonderful.  You are the face of God wherever you are-- so wear it well.  Wear it like it fits you- because it does.  It fits you perfectly and exactly.  Wear it bravely.  It is not always easy to follow Jesus- so make the decision every.single.day.

Above all, know that you are brave, that you are fought for, and that you are loved.  In the familiar, and in the adventure.