Zach Hunter - Lose Your Cool, Revised and Expanded Edition. Discovering a Passion that Changes You and the World

By JoelHouston-Hillsong United, Australia

Heres the thing: I like chicken. I especially like the grilled kind with gravy and green beans and baked potatoesthe kind you find served backstage at just about every music festival event Ive ever had the chance to attend.

And so it was, at such an event in the canyons of Washington State, having worked up a solid hunger and in full-chow-mode, that I found myself abruptly disrupted from the spoils of my gravy-laden-poultry. A disruption that was by all means no small thing given all that was going on at the time, and not the least because well I like my chicken! And yet here I was in a festival greenroom surrounded by the whos who of Christian pseudo-celebrity-dom, the atmosphere a mix-mash of festival buzz, the distant pounding of bass and drums, and kids screaming, jumping around in imitation Ray-Bans and every kind of band-hero tee-shirt, and enjoying all that the day and the moment had to offer. All the while backstage, real-life band heroes are catching up, sharing on-the-road adventure stories, talking instruments and gear, admiring each others haircuts, skinny jeans, and slogan-adorned tee-shirtseveryone enjoying their chicken

And yet in the midst of all the frivolous conversation, my ears are tuned to a (then) 14-year-old kid speaking enthusiastically about wait for it the potential for young people to help abolish slavery in all its forms! I was stunned, and immediately I found myself searching for clarification. Was I hearing this correctly? Was this kid just rehashing a recently researched school assignment on William Wilberforce or was this for real? I took the super-sleuth approach to eavesdropping and motioned my attention falsely towards my dinner, though clearly my senses were firmly focused elsewhere.

Caught off-guard, I was captivatednot so much by the depth of his insight (which was deep), nor his lack of years (which were few), nor even, for all its urgency, the topic of conversation (which was astonishing). The thing that arrested my attention so completely was his passiona certain conviction that spoke louder than all the noise in that room. I was no longer interested in who else was there, or what guitar they were now using, or what band was temporarily doing their thing on main stage, or even how much my stomach was desperately craving the chicken and gravy and beans and baked potatoes now left abandoned on the plate in front of me.

None of it seemed to matter anymore, rendered meaningless in the scheme of things by the passionate idealism of a 14-year-old kid from the U.S.

Fast-forward three years and here I am writing the foreword for this kids third book. Hes no longer a kid, but a young man, still passionate about seeing a generation use its gifts, talents, and passions to stand for peace, love, and justice. This is the challenge for our generation; to choose to live a life that goes beyond ourselves when everything is geared toward us; to listen, to speak, and to make a stand for something that counts.

But in our day and age its hard sometimes to distinguish anything amidst all the noise; so much information fighting for our attention that we never really hear anything. So many options laid out at our disposal that we run the risk of never really doing anything. The reality is, we can do whatever we want with our time here on earth, but if we want our lives to count, we cant afford to be silent any longer, we cant conform any longer to the patterns of apathy and indifference. Gods plan has always been his people. His plan is us, and that means he has chosen you for such a time as this. Not one day someday when youve finished college, or you have a degree, or youre a reallife band hero, or once youve finished your chicken or whatever. Our time is now, and though it might seem like we dont have what it takes to make a difference, all we need is our passion.

We cant afford to lose it, we cant waste it on ourselves, but as Zach reveals through these pages, we must use it to stand up for those who are being oppressed, and to speak out against injustice. The world we live in might be consumed in its chicken and gravy, but no matter who you are, or where youre from, or how insignificant you may feel, you have a voice, and in the midst of all the noise, its your passion that will be heard.