Sunday, December 17, 2006

Teenagers and Acceptance



I am going to 'copy' two small paragraphs grom an article that I came across tonight - from a new website that I learned about tonight ( live science ).

Teenagers do crazy things. They take drugs, have unprotected sex, ride with drunken drivers, and pretend to be asleep when it's time to do the dishes.

But it's not that they don't ponder the the potential consequences. In fact, a new study finds teens spend more time weighing risk than adults and in fact often overestimate the odds of a bad outcome. But the desire for acceptance among peers wins out in the decision-making process of a young mind.

The more that I work with teenagers, the more that I am amazed by them and love them with all my passion and heart. Teenagers today want to do so much, they want to accomplish everything and they want to please all.

From a logical stand-point, they fully know ( usually ) the decision that they should make but when they look across the room and see their peer ... their sense of acceptance kicks into high drive.

I was reminded of this ... this morning. I taught the middle school sunday school class today( I LOVE TEACHING THEM ). Our lesson was based on God sees everything. Our cultural relevant moment ( we have on each week ) was on cameras / camcorders and how they are everywhere. So, that led into discussions on MySpace and YouTube and what someone might have caugt you doing on tape.

Anywhooo, back to teenagers. I hope and pray that our ministry can truly create this relational ministry where they are authentic and the decision making process will be a little easier because the acceptance they will 'search for' will be from students that love them no matter what and thus ... they may be pointed to make wise decisions. I can not wait till that lesson series at Infusion.

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