Tough guys and drama queens Day 2

In one paragraph

This was a parenting seminar session, not a traditional sermon. The preacher spoke candidly about how to stay connected to teenagers without losing the convictions you hold, drawing on decades of working with struggling kids at a residential program in Texas. The session opened with a frank admission that staying true to what you believe while engaging a culture that keeps shifting is genuinely...

Read together

1. 1 Corinthians 2 mentioned as an example of how quoting scripture chapter and verse can come across as judgmental to kids
2. Proverbs (unspecified) the fool delights in airing his opinion; a fool appears wise when he keeps his mouth shut
3. Proverbs (unspecified) a fool is one who answers before the question is asked
4. Matthew 7 (unspecified) before looking at the speck in someone else's eye, look at the log in your own eye
5. Psalm 139 (unspecified) Lord, search me, know my heart, see if there is any hurtful way in me, lead me in the way everlasting
6. Matthew 11:28 (unspecified) come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and you will find rest
7. Galatians 6:9 (unspecified) do not grow weary in doing good, for in due time you will reap if you surely sow
8. Proverbs 22:6 (unspecified) train up a child in the way he should go and when they are old they will not depart from it
9. Jeremiah 17:5 (unspecified) cursed is the man who puts his trust in man, he will be like a bush in the desert
10. Proverbs 18 (unspecified) if you rescue an angry man once you will just have to rescue him again
11. 1 Corinthians 13 (unspecified) for now I see in a mirror dimly, referenced when expressing uncertainty about why God allows suffering

Talk about it

1. The preacher talked about his view on certain issues shifting as he gets older and spends more time with people going through hard things. What is something you once held firmly that has changed, and what changed it?
2. The preacher described being with a mother who was praying for a miracle for her dying son, and said he found himself honestly doubting God would intervene in that situation. How do you hold together trust in God's power with the reality that He sometimes does not heal?
3. The preacher said that Don Henley told him there would be more love in the world if it weren't for Christians, and that a Barna study found 95% of unchurched people describe the church first as homophobic. How does that land with you, and what do you think it would look like to be known more for how we love than for what we oppose?
4. The preacher said that when a child is smoking pot, acting out, or pulling away, the behavior is always symptomatic of something else going on underneath. When you look at the kids in your own life, what do you think their behavior might actually be telling you?
5. The preacher described handing over more control to teenagers gradually, year by year, so they are practicing decision-making before they leave home. Where do you find it hardest to loosen that control, and what is driving that?