My lovely wife and I have been wondering about/concerned with the question of how to encourage our children to appropriate the Faith for themselves in a vibrant and real way. Julie sent a link out yesterday to some folks as follows:
this is an interesting website….these teens are showing that their youth doesn’t have to be wasted time, but they can live for God right now. we should get our kids their book and get them reading their blog. i heard about them when listening to John Piper on “the unwasted life.” by the way, i highly recommend Piper’s series on the unwasted life. you can download it on Desiring God.org.
In addition, Pulpit Magazine has a review of the book that Alex and Brett Harris wrote called Do Hard Things. Here is a piece of the review:
The first way the myth gets teens to waste their life is by convincing them that being above average is actually something to be proud of. Excellence is defined by getting good grades in easy classes, and if the classes are to hard, at least trying to get good grades should be sufficient. The second way, the Harris brothers say, is by getting teens to be known for what they don’t do, rather than what they do. “Tim doesn’t do drugs or get in trouble at school — what a good boy he is!”
This book is refreshing because it is unlike most other books written for teens; it challenges them with real challenges. It challenges both the myth and the culture of mediocrity the myth creates. And it encourages teens to try things at which they might very well fail. In this vein it reminds me of John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life.
finally, Challies put me on to Deb Burton. Deb’s question of the week is this:
Your child thinks Sunday morning sermons are boring. The pastor is just another talking head, like all those grown-up shows with political pundits. His body language shows it. You think the pastor is right on the money – he’s biblical, he’s topical, and he has a decent presentation.
What’s the deal?
The comments to the post are pretty good and her followup post is interesting as well.
Lots of folks sharing the journey and learning from each other as we attempt to shepherd the hearts of our children.