Celebrating Jesus

When the Next Generation Leads: UNPLUG60 and My Heart

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

Cadence (Cady) Cardwell

Every once in a while, God lets you see His special touch across generations.

There are many satisfying things in this world, but catching your grandchild following in your footsteps (Whether she intended it or not) is extra special. My heart…it is singing.

Meet my granddaughter, Cady Cardwell. She’s one of the leaders of the UNPLUG60 movement. What’s UNPLUG60? I’m glad you asked! Here’s a snippet from their website.

Unplug 60 is a movement led by teens in Chambers County. It’s a simple idea: pick one hour each day to step away from screens and devices. That means putting down phones, closing laptops, turning off notifications—just unplugging. During this hour, you’re encouraged to spend time doing something real: talking to a friend, reading for fun, going for a walk, playing music, drawing, or just thinking.

This movement isn’t about rejecting technology altogether—it’s about finding space to breathe, connect, and recharge without constant digital distractions.

What I didn’t know, until her mom, Sheree, filled me in, is that Cady’s also apparently the primary author of their blog. I had no idea what she was up to until Sheree shared Sleep vs. Screens: How Late-Night Scrolling Hurts Your Rest, and I was all but shouting as I read it. It speaks straight up truth that applies not only to the teens she’s addressing, but adults as well. Our addiction to screens takes a terrible toll on most Americans, regardless of our age, and it affects us spiritually, physically, and mentally.

Reading her words reminds me that the next generation is already here and, in many cases, is better prepared to step out and touch the world than we realize. Seeing my own grandchild display such maturity and wisdom does this Granna’s heart great good.

If you’ve got a minute, I suggest you check out UNPLUG60 for yourself. You may be surprised by just how much you’re challenged and inspired!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy Cardwell

Our Advantage

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

Once again, the Renner Interpretive Version of the Bible set my thoughts along an unexpected path. It happened in James 1:18b

God’s dream was for us to be a never-before existing type of people – brand spanking new, novel, and unlike anything that has ever existed – creations of His own making that entirely belong to Him.

These last words, “that entirely belong to Him,” paired with “a never-before existing type of people,” startled me.

What about Adam & Eve?!

What about Adam and Eve? I had to think on it a minute before it dawned on me. They had free will from the beginning. They could freely choose to either walk with God or disobey Him and face the consequences. The problem was that, unlike those of us who came to God scarred and battered, they had no comprehension of sin’s cost.

So, in reality, they didn’t “entirely belong to Him.”

Don’t stop reading yet.
I’m going somewhere with this.

Ride the train with me while it jumps to a different track. Track jumping is normal for me as I study the Word: Consider this an introduction to how my brain works.

I’ve thought a lot about the Millennial Reign and Eternity. One thing that has always interested me is that we will never stop having free will.

That being the case, what’s to stop us from deciding at some point that we won’t serve God anymore? Yes, I know there will be no temptation, but why?

If 1/3 of the angels changed their minds and fell with the devil, what’s to keep us from following suit?

If Adam and Eve chose the forbidden fruit, what makes me think we won’t make the same mistake?

The answer is in this verse, revealed by Renner’s more detailed interpretation. We are an entirely new type of people, and as such we have a distinct advantage over the angels that fell as well as Adam and Eve.

We started out in sin!

Adam, Eve, and the angels – before they fell – may have understood the disobedience we call sin on a conceptual level, but they couldn’t really conceive its cost.

Like travelers falling for a hotel’s fancy sales pitch, they thought they were entering into a life of luxury. But instead, they got a rat-infested, mold-consumed room. They all left perfection to dive headfirst into a life that could never truly satisfy. The world’s false promises are like that room, leaving you regretting your stay even before you’ve unpacked.

We have just the opposite experience.

We started out in sin. I certainly did, and ‘though I was a teen when I was saved I was aware enough to realize things had changed.

Before accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, we were intimately familiar with sin and its myriad costs. We know exactly where we came from, and the closer we get to God the less temptation there is to go back to that deceptive hotel.

So yes, because of where we came from and where we know we’re going, because we have accepted His lordship over our lives and walk in His salvation, we entirely belong to Him.

And that makes us unlike anything that has ever existed.

Which answers my previous question. Yes, we will still have free will in eternity; it won’t vanish, but it also won’t be influenced by doubt, uncertainty, or deception. We’ve walked in sin, lived in sin, and – praise God – been delivered from sin. Like someone who has survived a house fire, we’ll never be tempted to play with matches.

Romans 6:18 (NET) expresses it perfectly: “…and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.” That slavery brings ultimate freedom and eternal assurance; that’s our advantage.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C