Keep Your Cool
Theme of the Week: The Tack to Take with Teens
Sunday, August 10, 2008
 1 of 1
Who Said It … Rodney Gage
Rodney is the founding pastor of Fellowship of Orlando in Florida. Since 1988 he's spoken in more than 600 local churches across North America. His "Wise Up" school assembly program has been heard by more than 3 million students in public and private schools throughout America, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Brazil. Rodney has also written five books designed to strengthen parent/teen relationships.
What He Said … Keep Your Cool
My friend was eating dinner with his family when his teenage son said, "An awful lot of people are Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims, and they seem pretty sure of themselves. How can we be sure we're right?"
Some fathers would have quickly corrected the boy's thinking, but this dad wanted to help his son think through things on his own. He replied, "You're right. They do seem very convinced they're right. I wonder what that's about. What do you think?" This led to a meaningful discussion. Other talks naturally followed about world religions, personal faith, and the validity of Scripture. The wise father didn't simply give answers. He mostly asked questions.
Teenagers are experimenting with life. Their hard questions about what you believe aren't attacks. Challenging your values isn't a sign of rebellion. They're young people's attempts to think through fundamental issues on their own and come to their own conclusions. It'll make for some great discussions as long as you aren't threatened by them.
Adapted from We Can Work It Out (Broadman & Holman, 2002) by permission.
Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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I need Your wisdom, Lord, to adjust my parenting style from director of children to encourager and shaper of emerging adulthood for youths.
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