Skip to main content

The Space Between


When people find out I am a youth pastor and that I have been so for more than 6 months, I am often asked if I have aspirations for being a 'real' pastor. I have so many answers to this but that is an entirely different post. I think the questions comes partly from people's disbelief that anyone would actually choose to be around teenagers.

After all, we remember our teenage years and the limbo we often battled with. Some have raised teenagers in their own home and wondered what happened to the sweet little toddlers. Because the terrible two's weren't so bad, right?

It is for this reason I am glad to recommend Walt Mueller's book The Space Between: A Parent's Guide to Teenage Development. It's not his newest book, but this one is still timely. 

Walt tackles the gamut on teenagers, from how they are changing physically, socially, intellectually, emotionally and even morally. He's got something here for everyone, from stats and figures to personal stories. His is a voice that can be trusted, not only because he has raised his own teenagers, but because he has dedicated his life to studying the culture of adolescence. 

Along the way he offers tons of practical advice, and even a section for further reading. But be warned. If you are looking for a cookie-cutter plan to raising your own teen, you won't find that here. Walt reminds us of the unique qualities of every teenager. That is a good thing. In order to help your child survive the bridge to adulthood that is adolescence, they will need your unique perspective. 

And just as I choose to continue being a youth pastor, you can choose to live this adventure with your teenager, instead of closing your eyes and hoping you survive. 

You can find this book, and many other resources, at Walt's site; The Center for Parent & Youth Understanding. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his ...
Post a Comment
Read more