18-Year-Old Elected MayorLast November, Colton Morman was elected the new mayor of the small Dallas County town of Dawson, Iowa. Here’s the thing: he was only 18 years old when elected to take the job, which had previously been held by his grandfather, who had decided not to run again. The story has received widespread attention over the last few months, as Colton is among the youngest of mayors to have ever been elected.
More surprising than an 18-year-old mayor of a small American town are the countless biblical stories of teenagers who did extraordinary things that others would not and/or could not do. Take David, who was only a teenager when God used him to defeat Goliath and therefore save a nation of people. David was younger than his three oldest brothers and all of the other soldiers in the king’s army (who, by law, had to be at least 21 years old), and he was younger than King Saul. And yet these very warriors, who had pulled off some pretty daring feats in the past, could not and would not do what God had placed only in David’s heart to do.
Take Joseph, Esther, and Daniel as well – all teenagers when God used them to do incredible things, some of which (like David) involved sparing an entire nation of people. All of these young people were faced with trying circumstances, and there were always others (many of them older) standing by, who did not have in them what God had placed in the hearts of these teenagers.
I could go on and on with biblical accounts of teenagers who really stepped up and allowed God to demonstrate his miraculous power through them and around them, but I think the point has already been made: Teenagers CAN do the miraculous and the impossible, when GOD has deposited that unction within them, and when HE is the source of their strength and determination!
While this 18-year-old mayor now leads his town of 155 people, there are other teenagers out there who God is using right now to do even greater things! Those of us who aren’t teenagers shouldn’t really be “surprised” by this, but rather “grateful” that God includes teenagers on his kingdom list of power hitters! Sometimes those teens of his can knock a ball out of the park better than the rest of us!
For those of you who are teenagers, strive to follow the advice Paul gave to young Timothy: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers …” (1 Timothy 4:12A). In other words, keep knocking those baseballs of life (which God has called you and equipped you to swing at) out of the park!
