About Christian Teens

Getting Along with Your Parents in the Summer

2009-07-02T00:33:29Z

The sun is shining. Your best friend's pool beckons. Yet suddenly your mom wants to know where you're going, how long you're going to be there, and don't forget you have to mow the lawn, too. Suddenly you feel like she's treating you like a child, and you start an argument.

Summer may be a great three months off of school, but it is often a time of greater strain between parents and their teenagers. Suddenly you're spending more time together, and your parents want to be involved while you want independence. That's when the sparks start flying.

Yet, there are ways to get along with your parents year round. While it is your break from school, you can't dismiss that your parents want to spend time with you. Make an effort to have fun on the family vacation. Spend some time with your parents during your break, maybe even doing a summer devotional as a family.

Sure, we all get frustrated with each other once in a while, but making efforts to understand one another is key to minimizing the summer relationship strain. After all, God calls on us to honor our parents and make them proud.

Sunday Scripture: Joshua 1:9

2009-06-28T12:19:23Z

Joshua 1:9 - "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (NIV)

Strength and courage aren't always that easy to find. Sometimes we'd rather crawl in a hole than deal with the things going on in our lives. Yet, God tells us that He will provide us with the strength to deal with anything. He commands that we face the difficult things in our lives, and He encourages us to rely on His strength to get us through.

There are so many things we face each day that bring about fear in varying levels. One of the things that we fear the most is change. Some of you may just be starting high school or college this year, and it can be very daunting. Will you be able to handle the workload? Will people like you? Yet, God tells us that He will be with us through it all. Sometimes we face these fears because God has more for us to do and learn. When we lean on His strength, He only makes us stronger through the sometimes difficult process.

Loss Touches Us All

2009-06-26T12:20:25Z

Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Yes, Michael Jackson was a pop star, Farrah Fawcett was an actress, and Ed McMahon was a great late-night sidekick. But they were entertainers, and most of us didn't know them at all. So what is with all this attention to their deaths? Why is it all the world wants to talk about when we are dealing with so many other issues like hunger and violence in the world?

The thing is, none of us are immune to death. We are all touched by it throughout our lives, and eventually we will one day pass away. So when someone we grew up watching or admire for their talent passes, it is a loss we all share. Each one of them touched people's lives in different ways, but their deaths remind us that these larger than life figures weren't immune to the same fate we all face.

So, deaths like these serve to remind us how frail our lives are. It reminds us how much we have to lose while we are here and to live our lives to the fullest while we are here on earth, because we have only one life to live here. Yes, as Christians we understand we will have a different existence after we die, but that doesn't mean we don't live life while we are alive here.

Our faith may give us strength when facing the passing of those we love or admire. Our faith allows us to pray for the comfort of those suffering in these passings. Yet, our faith also tells us to be a light on earth. We are to smile, have fun, and enjoy every day that God gives us. We need to be grateful for the small moments and the large wonderful ones. There is so much to enjoy in our lives, and sometimes when we face loss, as we all are seeing this week on our televisions, radio, etc., we need to be reminded that life needs to be lived, because it is just so short.

$1 a Day Not to Get Pregnant?

2009-06-24T11:51:29Z

A program in North Carolina offers girls between 12-18 years old $1 a day not to get pregnant. The girls have to attend weekly meetings, and the program called College-Bound Sisters then deposits $7 per week into an interest-bearing college fund account. They get the money once they graduate from high school.

Obviously teen pregnancy is an issue. Television shows and after-school specials have focused on it for decades. Scandals cover the front pages of magazines and newspapers when teens like Bristol Palin and Jamie Lynn Spears found themselves pregnant. But paying teens to not get pregnant?

As Christian teens there are other issues in remaining pregnancy free. Most Christians adhere to the belief that pre-marital sex is pretty much a no-no. Yet, not many churches are offering teens money to not get pregnant. Instead they encourage teens in their faith to remain abstinent.

Still, this money is being deposited in a college fund for girls that might not otherwise have money for college. The program does give girls inspiration and encourages them to graduate from high school, which today is becoming incredibly important as dropout rates go up.

So, what do you think? Do you think more states need to offer grants like these to help decrease teen pregnancy and increase high school graduation, or do you think we need to find other ways besides monetary rewards to prevent pregnancy?

Sunday Scripture: Proverbs 23:24

2009-06-21T10:00:10Z

Proverbs 23:24 - "The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him." (NIV)

Today is Fathers' Day, which is obviously a day to honor your dad. Yet, what does that mean? In Proverbs we see that honoring our fathers is not just about going out and getting him a nice tie or new golf balls. Honoring him goes well beyond one day a year.

To honor your father means being good and wise in your own choices. Proverbs 23:24 tells us that good and wise children are a great joy to a parent. It means, basically, that he did something right and that you are a light to his world.

So, how can we show Dad that we are good? It comes from affirmations every day that dad did something right. Take a moment to listen to what your father has to say. Be respectful in the way you speak to him. Spend some quality time with Dad, not just once a year.

For the most part, we only have one Dad. We shouldn't take him for granted. So, while you hand him his new tie this Sunday, also remember that Fathers' Day is not just one day a year, but every day.

Standing Up For Your Beliefs

2009-06-20T13:44:38Z

Sometimes I find it hard to write about certain things, and today is one of those days. I have sat in front of the news reports all morning, and so far I have seen young people beaten, shot, and killed. I have seen more violence in the past few days than in a long time, and while these are horrific sights, I wonder if I would have the courage of these young people to stand up in the face of oppression to voice my beliefs.

Where is all this happening? Iran. I've been watching video on the news shows, reports on internet news sites, as well as YouTube. I've followed the Twitter feed. These are people your own age in the streets protesting election results. Yet, they aren't just protesting election results, but also showing a change in the way they view the world. They are now demonstrating for a freedom of choice.

Why is this so important to Christian teens? We talk often about voicing our faith. We preach about evangelism. We head to church every day, blog about God, and stand at a flagpole every September in prayer for SYATP. We are able to demonstrate our faith freely, and we need to thank God for that ability. We need to praise Him for our freedoms.

Yet, too many of us are afraid to stand up and voice our beliefs. Too many of us worry about our friends being critical and not understanding. Yet, here are people in their late teens and early twenties standing up for freedom. Risking their lives to share their voices with the world. Their homes are being invaded. They are being beaten and shot in the streets. Dorm rooms are being burnt out in order to intimidate students from demonstrating. Yet there they are in the streets. They risk their lives to send reports out of a country that has forbidden the use of the Internet. Every tweet or video you see is a risk to their lives.

So one odd look from a friend? Risking a person not liking you for voicing your faith? Is that so much? We can learn a lot about courage for people that face so much more peril for standing up for what they believe.

Sunday Scripture: 1 John 2:11

2009-06-14T10:33:49Z

1 John 2:11 - "But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him." (NIV)

The recent shooting rampage at the U.S. Holocaust Museum got me thinking about violence and hatred. It seems that the world is full of people bent on destroying one another based on race, religion, finances, and whatever else they can find to hate one another for. Is this type of action really what God wants from us?

The gunman who walked into the Holocaust museum this week hated so much that it incited him to violence. He blamed the world's ills on the Jews and African Americans. He hated so much that he took a life. Yet, this is what the Bible warns us about.

This verse in 1 John reminds us that, as Christians, we can't allow hate to blind us. It can be used as a tool of the enemy, and we need to learn to love one another more. Sometimes I like to imagine a world where everyone takes the time to care about one another. Where we affirm one another and respect our differences. Then I return to the harsh reality where salacious gossip and deadly violence become the topics of the day.

We must, as Christians, learn to love more and hate less. We must learn how to speak out about our faith from a place of love, and not of anger, envy, or hate. God uses us as his voice, and we can be instruments of change for things God cares about, but as Jesus was sent here out of love, we must speak and act from that same place of love. If we don't, if we just hate, we are in danger of not only becoming blinded by the darkness, but consumed by it as well.

You Don't Have to Worry if You Don't Start at All

2009-06-13T23:17:27Z

Congress is looking to get even tougher on tobacco companies than ever before. Everyone pretty much knows that smoking is bad for you, but thousands of teens start smoking every day. Those "few cigarettes" often end up becoming a habit and eventually an addiction.

Smoking is a difficult thing to quit, and people try all the time. The longer a person smokes, the harder it gets...ask President Obama. He's making attempts to quit the habit, but it's not always easy. The easiest way to quit smoking is to not start at all.

While the physical dangers of smoking are well known, what about the spiritual dangers. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. The Bible tells us in 1 Cor. 6:19-20, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body" (NIV). Taking care of our bodies is a great testimony to God, and it sets an example for others to follow.

The Ever-Changing Internet: A Sign of the Times

2009-06-10T00:27:58Z

I was reading an article today about how MySpace is no longer the number one social networking site, as Facebook has taken over. Soon, the experts say, Twitter will surpass Facebook as the Internet constantly moves and evolves.

There are so many implications of the fast evolution of the Internet. One thing is that it seems to be getting harder to keep up with the "next new thing." It feels like, as soon as we get used to one thing, another jumps in to replace it.

This type of fast-moving change also takes away from us a sense of permanence. It makes me somewhat sad to think about how quickly we discard things today, and I wonder how a disposable culture impacts our lives. Do we discard relationships that way? Is it possible that the disposable nature of our culture is part of the ever increasing number of divorces? Instead of working at things, just find something new?

What impact, then, does a disposable culture have on our faith? Can we allow God to truly be our steadfast rock when we no longer have a sense of stability? Sure, I may be overanalyzing one article about social networking, yet I think many of our pop culture choices are a reflection about more of our deeper, inner workings. God is not disposable, and he is not always going to fit into what is hip and new. Sometimes we need to hold onto that steadfast rock while everything else is swirling and moving around us, and God is always there to give us that sense of stability in an unstable world.

Sunday Scripture: 1 John 1: 3-5

2009-06-07T20:29:40Z

1 John 1: 3-5 - "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." (NIV)

Let's look today at what God is. He is everything. That's what John is saying here. God is the one that made us. God provides for us. This short passage explains God's omnipotence and power over the universe. Without God we would not exist and at the same time, God also provides us power in the face of difficult things. He is always with us, even when we cannot see him. In these short sentences we can find strength and comfort in even the most difficult times.

One of the key words in this passage is "light." All living things need light to survive. If the darkness has not understood that light, then it has not found a true way to destroy us, nor can it destroy God. This passage demonstrates that we need God to survive and thrive, and God can help us overcome anything.