Figuring it all out!

askmissa.com

In your teen years it's a time when you will come to a fork in the road. Do you believe God because that's what your parents believe? Or do you believe God because ... you believe?

If you're at the point in your life when you're trying to figure it out, here are some questions to ask.

The Bible is ...
The Bible means ____________________ to me.
Jesus is ...
The one way to get to heaven is ....
As God's child I ....
Those who do don't follow Jesus will ...
God has given me a Holy Spirit to ...
As a believe God wants me to ...

If you'd like to share your answers, please leave them in the comment section. If you don't know the answers, please leave that i the comments too. All us blog writers here would love to help you with your questions!

While We're Waiting

Life is full of times to wait. Wait. Wait. While I'm waiting, I usually feel like I have to get busy doing something--anything--instead of just waiting.

When you're in high school, there are so many things to wait on:

Grades.
A college decision.
Your SAT score.
Maybe a prom date.
A bad family situation to get better.
Maybe a scholarship offer.
To find out if you made the team.
To make one good friend.

My daughter sent this song to me the other day. It's helping me wait.



Does anybody need prayer while you're waiting?

Love,
Julie

You Just Never Know

A couple weeks ago I received an e-mail from a high school bff. She attached a couple pics from a time I visited her house a year or so after she married and moved to Oregon. I was in my early twenties at the time and taking a road trip with a couple of friends as a break after an intense time of launching a new program at a church where I worked.

In my memory, that road trip was a fun time with a couple of friends. That’s it.

But as I looked at those pictures, it hit me. God had his plans, and that trip changed the course of my life.

We had driven through the most picturesque parts of Oregon, through the forests of central Oregon to the lighthouses of the coast. Played on beaches and jetties and made a meal out of fruit, crackers, and Tilamook cheese straight from the Oregon factory. Even pitched in for a one-hour private plane ride over the Eugene-Corvallis area.

Then we drove back to California to return to our homes in the San Francisco Bay Area. On the way we stopped to visit a friend at a residential ministry for at-risk youth, spent a night, and went home.

But that friend got an idea while we were visiting. She wanted me to meet someone. I went out on a date, even though we started by me adamantly clarifying where I stood: “I know everyone is trying to set us up, but just so you know, I'm really not looking for a relationship right now.”

So much for that. We dated some more. Later married, actually having the wedding on the ministry property in a beautiful green meadow. Today we’re still working at that ministry for at-risk youth, and I’m writing for the teen/audience on tough issues.

Where would I have been if . . .

Stop. Not even gonna to go there.

You just never know where one simple choice in your life will take you.

Jan
author of the Live Free series, Standard Publishing

true stories, true hope

for teens, young adults,
and those who care about them.

SNAKE!! Oh my gosh!!

I can't figure out how this happened.

A few weeks ago, I'd used this rubber snake to teach high school Sunday school. I brought him along as an example of how the evil one can sneak up on us. Last night I went out with some friends. I picked Leigh Anne up at her house. She jumped into the passenger seat (I have a PT Cruiser) and Mr. Snake was in the floorboard near her feet. I'd kinda forgotten to clean out my car. (I also have a winter coat and a bunch of other stuff in the back.)

She screamed. I laughed.

"Oops. Sorry. I forget he was still in here."

Leigh Anne carefully picked Mr. Snake up by the tail. "I'll just toss him in the back seat. I don't like snakes."

We met some friends at Chili's restaurant for dessert. By the time we got back out to the car it was dark. I slipped in to drive and saw MR. SNAKE wrapped around my steering wheel.

He'd moved from the backseat to the steering wheel. I'm not kidding.

Leigh Anne promises she didn't do it. She called her husband to see if he'd played a prank on us. Nope. I called my daughter and husband. Nope. We asked the ladies who met us. Nope. I could have sworn I locked my car--so that part is even weirder.

Okay, moving right along.

I started thinking today...when something creeps into our lives to trip us up or lead us down the wrong path, it's usually not as easy to spot as a snake on a steering wheel.

Sometimes the wrong choice can seem so right.

Tricky snakes might be:
1. Saying yes when no is the right answer answer.
2. Trusting a guy with not-so-great intentions.
3. Looking the other way when someone needs a friend.

Does anybody need help with a snake who's somehow crept onto your steering wheel?



Julie

Caught Up or . . . Grounded?

So there’s been plenty of buzz lately about teen idol and role model Miley Cyrus and her photo shoot with Vanity Fair. It has turned into quite the hot topic with plenty of controversy.

We can almost remember a time when a photo shoot like this of a fifteen-year-old wouldn’t have even been a consideration. They simply wouldn’t have done it. But in today’s world of relativism and sliding morals, the lines jump all over the place like an old vein dodging a needle.

I don’t know. Maybe Miley and her parents didn’t imagine the photographer—though known for racey—would go the direction she did. Maybe Miley fully trusted the adults around her and the encouragement that this would be a classy and fun shoot rather than what it became. And then looking back, with media response and pressure, there are now all kinds of regrets.

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment. Too easy.

On a less celebrity scale—but equally as important—that can happen in our everyday, more ordinary lives. We’re in a conversation and find ourselves trashing a friend who a moment before we’d never betray. We are out in a group and one thing leads to another, and before we know it we’ve compromised a standard we thought we’d never violate. Or pressures and pain that run deep resurface and derail our resolve; we step right into a choice we never imagined we’d make.

Memories of instances when I did that still make me shiver with regret. I’ve experienced fewer and fewer slips, and therefore regrets, as God has grounded me deeper in my relationship with Him. I think of Psalm 1. It’s a grounding Psalm. It gives me a vision of what I want to avoid and where I want to keep heading. It offers words to help me formulate my prayer and plea for a solid resolve rooted in the only One who can keep me grounded.

If you haven’t read Psalm 1 recently, read the whole thing again . . . slowly. Then if you want, create your own personalized version of your grounding Psalm.

When we’re prepared and rooted deeply by the “streams of water,” we won’t so easily get caught up in the moment.

Praying for you!

Jan

Jan’s recent books, Scars That Wound, Scars That Heal—A Journey Out of Self-Injury, and Seduced by Sex, Saved by Love—A Journey Out of False Intimacy talk about how God can help us avoid getting caught up in the moment, particularly with two vital issues and pressures: self-injury and sex.

http://www.jankern.com/

What if you were that friend?

Who was the first one Jamie Lynn Spears turned to when she found out she was pregnant? Not her mom. Not her sister. She turned to a friend.

So as a teen what can YOU do when a pregnant friend comes to you for advice?

Remain calm and loving. Your friend most likely feels alone, frightened and extremely sensitive about her pregnancy. The most important thing you can offer is your continued friendship.

Show God's love and forgiveness. Your friend may have been looking for love by giving herself intimately to a guy. Now she might feel ashamed and unworthy of love at all. Point her to God, who loves her unconditionally.

Celebrate life. Your friend may consider this baby a "mistake"—a barrier between her and "normal" life. She needs you to lovingly remind her that no matter how the baby was conceived, he or she is a gift from God.

Be available to share … and to listen. Your friend has big decisions to make, and although you can't make those decisions for her, you can be available to help her consider her options. Share information you've discovered on fetal development and on the physical and emotional trauma of abortion. Most of all, be willing to listen to your friend's deepest concerns.

Find help. Your friend is most likely in need of more answers than you can give. Visit a local crisis pregnancy center with your friend, or call CareNet for help at 1-800-395-HELP. Encourage her to tell her parents and to seek the counsel of a pastor or youth pastor.

Partner with her to make better decisions in the future. My Life, Unscripted (Thomas Nelson) is a book for teen girls and encourages teens to script their lives instead of being caught up in the drama and emotions of the moment. Read it together. Talk about the importance of making good choices.

Also, be sure to remind your friend of another pregnant teen that most likely had to face a lot of gossip and questions. Mary, Jesus' mother brought the Savior of the world into the world, sacrificing her own reputation in the process. Every child is a treasure and every life is precious!