Point Student Ministry Jackson Lake
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How many hours are you technologically connected on a normal day? If you were to add up your hours online, your glances at text messages, your streaming music, your perusing social media, your Netflix addiction, how many hours could you count? It’s probably a lot. Our culture is obsessed with technology—and with good reason. Technology keeps us connected to each other and to the world around us. Nearly every device we own transmits signals to something else, somewhere else.
Why? Because that’s how they’re wired to function. Our phones, tablets, smart watches, gaming systems—they all are wired to connect to something outside them. And the same is true for us. We are wired for connection. It’s in our design.
As we take a closer look at what Jesus called “the greatest commandment,” we discover that we were wired to have three vital relationships: with God, with ourselves, and with others. And when those connections are made, everything else begins to function as it was designed.
We're Teaching This
Session One: Wireless
Do you know how a cell phone works? What about a tablet? Or what about the WiFi connection at your favorite coffee shop. Sure, we like using them, but doesn’t it seem strange to you that you can type a few words and they pop up on a screen on the other side of town? Or you can snap a photo on your phone and make it appear instantly on someone else’s, even if they’re in another country?
The truth is, we’re around wireless devices all the time but most of us have no idea how they work. They feel like magic. And if we’re honest, sometimes we get the same feeling when it comes to God. People talk about knowing Him or even loving Him, but how does that work when you can’t see Him? How do you have a conversation with someone who doesn’t talk back?
Believe it or not, the answer may be far less complicated than you think. As we take a look back at the very beginning we discover that, not only did God design the world around us, but He wired something in us that can help us to connect with Him. And when we take notice of it, we may just find that He becomes less invisible to us all the time.
Bottom Line: You can see God everywhere you look.
Think About This
Your student is changing fast. Chances are this isn’t a surprise. Their classes are changing. Their friends are changing. Their bodies are definitely changing. But one change you may not see as quickly are the changes that are happening in your student’s brain.
As our students approach puberty, their brains are being physically rewired to function less like a child and more like an adult. New connections are forming. Old ones are collapsing. Parts of the brain are being reorganized. And with all of that activity, it’s no surprise that they may experience occasional “outages” or glitches in their judgment, their memory, and their emotional control.
That means…
- Your straight-A scholar may suddenly forget their homework.
- Your sweet, quiet child may now have teenage emotional outbursts.
- Your reasonable, responsible student may have a few mindboggling lapses in judgment.
When that happens, our first reaction may be to panic and wonder, what went wrong here? But, most of the time, nothing is really wrong. Our students’ brains are simply under construction.
In their book, Teen Stages, authors Ken and Elizabeth Mellor describe this as a “cognitive rebirth” beginning around age 13 and continues into young adulthood. That means during middle school and high school, your student may show some behaviors reminding you a lot of their toddler and early elementary years. And…it’s perfectly normal.
While no two children are the same, and development is surely going to look different and take different amounts of time for each one, it may be helpful to look at the stages Mellor outlines to see where your student fits and what may be coming next.
As you check out the table below, find which descriptions best match your student and read to see what maybe coming in the next year. No matter what phase of rewiring your student is in, it’s important to remember that it’s only a phase. Enjoy them exactly as they are today and know that you play a key role, even during the later stages, in guiding them toward what’s next.
TRY THIS!
Sometimes the scariest thing about our students’ wiring is that it comes from us. It’s tempting to focus all our attention on the traits in our students that make us cringe—especially when we know they learned it from us. But those aren’t the only traits we’ve passed down. If you think about it, there are also some pretty great things in your students’ wiring that came from you.
This week, take notice of one positive trait in your student that they inherited from you. (This can be something you can do as a stepparent, adoptive parent or foster parent as well. Genetics may be responsible for some traits, but observation and learned behavior play an important role, too!)
Maybe you’re both good at math. Maybe your son is starting to show some of your great conversational skills. Or maybe your daughter is wired to be competitive, just like you. No matter what it is, pay attention to the positive traits passed on to your student. Use the note below as a guide and write your student a note encouraging the positive traits they possess!
January-May 2016 Calendar
Social Media Pages
Facebook Group: Point Student Ministries Jackson Lake
Twitter: @brandondaniel22
Instagram: @brandondaniel22
CIY Move, 8th-12th Grade, July 18th-23rd
Summer Camps
Senior 1 (Going into 10th-Graduated Seniors)...June 5th-10th
Teener 2 (Going into 7th, 8th, and 9th)...June 26th-July 1st
Brandon Daniel
Email: brandon@eccmail.org
Website: www.brandondaniel.me
Location: 863 Highway 142, Covington, GA
Phone: 770-786-2048
Facebook: facebook.com/brandon.daniel2
Twitter: @BrandonDaniel22