Teen Devotional
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Worth Your Time!
Resource Recommendations to Help You Parent and Mentor Most Effectively
This Week's Recommendation:
“The Jesus I Wish I Knew in High School”
Teen Devotional
Edited by Cameron Cole and Charlotte Getz
Available Here and on Amazon, Etc.
Why It Matters:
Teens often feel like no one understands them. In this book, they will find people who do understand them and who will also point them to Jesus. While the culture may have shifted since some of the authors (whose ages range from 23 to 70) were in high school, the underlying struggles remain the same. Teens will appreciate the authors’ honesty about personal struggles and will relate to them.
The book will benefit both young women and young men, and even youth who don't like reading can get value from it.
I’m confident I will give away this book many times in the future.
How to Use It
Here’s how the introduction describes the book’s format: “The chapters are short and can be read within 10 minutes. Each chapter has three sections. In the first section, the author shares a difficult experience they encountered in high school. The second section, The Jesus I Wish I Knew, contains a reflection from Scripture. The author considers how knowing Jesus and the gospel could have impacted his or her experience. In the final section, The Jesus I Want You to Know, the author speaks directly to you. Imagine they are sitting right beside you, sharing their heart. At the end of each chapter you will find optional questions for further reflection.”
Let’s be honest: many teens (at least initially) won’t be interested in reading the whole book. That’s ok! In the book, 30 authors cover 30 topics, and each chapter is only 5-6 pages and can stand on its own. Suggest that they just look through the chapter titles and pick one or two topics that seem relevant to them. They can read the other chapters later when they’re ready and want/need to. Since teens (and most of us) tend to be drawn to hearing people’s real-life stories, there’s also a good chance they’ll just naturally want to read more chapters once they read one or two. I did!
It's safe to ask them how they like the book in general, but be careful about asking which specific chapters they read. If you really want to know, you could ask something like, "Do you feel comfortable sharing which stories you relate to the most? It's ok if you don't feel comfortable sharing that." Teens struggle with things that we don’t know about and that they often don’t want us to know about, so answering that question may seem too personal for them – it might “give away” what they’re struggling with. Ultimately, trust God to do his work in them, whether they share openly or not.
Share about this book with others. The authors are transparent, they share helpful Scripture verses and passages, and they speak from the heart as they point teens to Jesus. That’s a rare combination, and it’s a book worth sharing.