While traveling on a mission trip, students probably aren’t all that eager to call “shotgun.” After all, sitting up front makes you absolutely visible at all times to an adult leader. I can’t imagine a more rigorous test of any teenager’s attention span than being stuck next to a grown-up when everyone else is goofing off in the back of the van.…
First, a brutal confession: In high school, I didn’t care about the Bible. I cared about Jesus, but I saw him as a distant Savior who helped only when things went terribly wrong. If I needed Jesus to hear me, I’d read his Word because I thought that would make him happy—and when Jesus was pleased with me, he’d be more likely to answer my prayers.…
I can’t remember the topic, but my rant was probably about something insignificant. A friend who’d been listening to my umpteenth tirade about the subject inserted a scalpel at the exact right moment. He injected some needed restraint into my rant, and I felt exposed, suddenly wrestling with shame.…
In our home, for the last six months, my wife and I have been leading a small group of senior highers in a Sunday afternoon pursuit of Jesus. After our last gathering, my wife (rather tentatively) asked me, “Do you like leading this group?”…
My son calls them, “Awkward conversations with adults.” In an attempt for adults to make conversation with a teen boy the first question they often ask is, “What’s your favorite video game?” It becomes uncomfortable for him because he finds himself saying, “Umm, I don’t really like video games.”…
