While we’re young dumb
Young, young dumb and broke
Young dumb
Young, young dumb and broke
Young dumb
Young, young dumb and broke
~ Khalid
We grew up in the 80’s, but got driver’s license in the early 90’s. It was a time of subwoofers, tweeter, amps, and self-installed Pioneer detachable face cd-player car stereos. Our small town that sat on the edge of the Northern Illinois and Kenosha, Wisconsin border had a street where you drove up and down. From the speakers in the trunk, the whole car vibrated. We were Caucasian kids rolling down Sheridan road bumping NWA, Ice Cube, or Dr. Dre and Snoop. Friday nights in my brother’s white Pontiac Sunbird, you’d find us with the bass turned up and cruising up and down Sheridan Road.
If you were especially cool, your vehicle was “lowered”, “dropped”, or even on hydraulics. To quote Khalid – we were “young, dumb, and broke”.
There is something about that age of no longer innocent, but not quite grown. There is something about youthful zeal attached to Superman arrogance of a teenager that makes young people fearless enough to bungee jump, ride roller coasters, and do things that at my current age give me pause. Somewhere in the lack of wisdom of those years is foolish courage.
Young, dumb, and broke, we went off to college. Young, dumb, and broke, we started lives. Young, dumb, and broke, we believed we could take on the world. It makes me wonder if that is why the Apostle Paul drops off a young pastor named Titus in the city of Crete. Paul pens in his letter that he left Titus in Crete to complete the work and appoint elders (leaders) in the new found church.
We do not know a lot about Titus. We know he travelled with Paul. We know Paul calls him a son in the faith. We know he set as the leader over a city of churches on the island of Crete. And we know he is young. In what we mark as chapter 2 of his letter to the young leader, Paul writes encouragement to different age and gender in the congregation of Crete. When he gets to the “young men” Paul’s tone switches from “they” to “you”. As if this instruction that I, Paul, am writing is for you Titus.
It was that Crete. Where we get the derogatory expression “Cretan” to indicate a lazy, gluttonous person. Titus was left on an island of Cretans. It makes me wonder if Titus, full of youthful zeal for the Lord was “young, dumb, and broke”. If he had just enough money, just enough wisdom, and more then enough energy to take on the monumental task of what God had called him to do on Crete. In fact, Paul like he wrote Timothy, another young pastor, gave this encouragement – “let no one despise you.”
Maybe you are no longer young, maybe you are full of wisdom, maybe your bank account has plenty…maybe all those things have kept us from taking the risk of living in Crete. I often wonder if age, comfort, and knowledge have made us less likely to take a faith risk. I wonder if we dismiss God’s promptings and callings because we are no longer young, dumb, and broke. I wonder if we see too much to lose and not enough to gain to step off the boat and onto our Crete.
In truth, my calling was easier to chase at 23 than at 43. There was simply less to lose. Yet, at 43, it seems as if God has called me to things that my 23 year old self could have never handled. Fear comes disguised as wisdom sometimes. We leverage logic to dismiss the adventure of God’s call. Maybe even as we age, we need to live a little more like we are “young, dumb, and broke”. It is a lesson for 2021 I am trying to learn.
