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With Huckabee no longer in the race, what are you focused on politically?

Brett: As Christians, our role in politics is to fight for the best candidate. For us, that was Mike Huckabee, and we fought hard. Now, it's a Christian responsibility to switch to the next best candidate. However, we have to recognize that our hope is not in politics but in God. So we are fighting for revival at the same time.

We are concerned about Barack Obama. He would not make a good President. It comes down to core issues like sanctity of life and marriage that as Christians we hold very dear. He is one of the most liberal candidates we've ever seen in a presidential election. Our motivation in this election is to see Obama kept out of the presidency. Because of that, we're throwing our support behind McCain. We would love to see even more indications from him that he supports our values. He definitely has been strong on the pro-life issue. If we can save more babies with McCain in office, then that's good enough for us.

Being homeschooled, do you find that those who attend high school react any differently?

Alex: The number-one response we receive from homeschool students is, "I thought I was the only one who felt this way." For public school students, the main reaction may be more of a paradigm shift. They are a little bit more surrounded by the low expectations.

Brett: The main thing I've seen is a different application of the message. Public-schoolers are more likely to be challenged to take a stand and go against the flow. Homeschoolers identify more with the challenge to do things that do not pay off immediately. You also see them responding to the challenge to go above and beyond what's expected or required. A lot of homeschoolers can struggle with complacency.

How has doing hard things specifically changed your individual faiths?

Alex: One of the neatest lessons for me has just been realizing that God still uses young people. In Scripture, all these young people — King David, Esther, Jeremiah, Mary the mother of Jesus — were used by God to change the course of history. It's been amazing to hear all the stories of ordinary young people like us who God is using to impact thousands of lives. That is a very faith-deepening thing.

Brett: I was just reading the other day about when Christ called the apostles. These were not well-qualified people. The only thing that qualified them was the willingness to leave everything and follow Christ. Likewise, my only qualification, which is also by his grace, is that I was willing to say, "I'm going to obey you when it's hard."

Todd Hertz is managing editor of teen publication Ignite Your Faith .

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October (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52