Several weeks ago, I was driving my 13 year-old son, TJ, home from small groups and I asked him the normal parent question: “How was it?”

To which he said, “It was good. But it got me thinking. I’ve actually been thinking a lot lately. Actually, last Sunday I wrote down a bunch of questions I have.”

“Did you talk about them tonight?”

“No, not really.”

“Well, if you’re up for it, I’d like to hear those questions.  Why don’t you bring the list to our next breakfast meeting on Friday and we’ll talk about it.”

Two days later he did and we sat down for java, juice, and a bagel while he busted out a wrinkled piece of paper from his back pocket with some questions scribbled on it:

• Where did the devil come from?
• How come I was born where I was and other people were born where they were? 
• How do you know that prayer is real? 
• etc…. there were like 15 of them. 

Hi. This is T.J. and here are some of my questions about God and life.

What is my purpose?
This is a big one for me. I want to know where I am going with my life but I really have no idea. I want to have a plan and be able to shoot for it. But I can’t find a plan. Therefore, I am thinking that I have to trust God and believe that he has a good plan for my life, and that is the best plan for me individually.

How can I relate to the Bible?
The Bible is this book that we look at every week in church. OK, well, how can I relate to this religious book that is so important in the Christian religion and way of life. I want to do what I am supposed to and be able to what God wants me to do, but in order for me to be able to do that, I have to be able to get what he is telling me to do.

What is God trying to tell me? 
I really have no idea about this one. I know that all of the pastors and people can sit there for a day sometimes and think that God was talking to them, but how do they know?  I mean I have seen God speak through other people in my life, but how come I can’t hear his voice directed towards me? Just me. Not through someone else’s voice but straight to me. I have thought that I have before but then I keep telling myself that it was just my mind talking to itself. Because whenever that happens, I am always trying to listen and then I don’t think that it is God but just my mind.

How come God doesn’t speak straight to people in person any more?
This one is confusing and I’m trying to figure it out. I think that it might have to do with God supposedly being able to speak through the Holy Spirit. But I have no idea really. I know that way back in the Old Testament, God used to talk to Abraham and Noah and all of those people. That doesn’t mean that I am any closer to knowing why. I am just trying to find out why he doesn’t. I want him to talk straight to me. Not through other people, but to me directly. This one is just trying to work itself out in my mind.

How come I can live like a robot, with no thought?
I have no idea about this one either. I really want to know. I can go through a whole day not thinking about what I am doing and not get in trouble and make descent choices. I want to know why I don’t have to think about God and the Bible and all of that stuff in my day? I want to have that stuff in my daily life, but sometimes it seems like I can go without it and I don’t want to be without it. I think that it is a personal decision and I think that the decision is mine to make.

I have said numerous times on this blog that I’m not interested in teaching students what to think, but rather how to think.  The latest world events provide prime material for just such a lesson.

Tonight in our guys small groups we decided to capitalize on the debate surrounding the death or killing of Osama Bin Laden.  It made for some great discussion.  Here’s the outline if you wanna dive in and get your students talking.

We opened with this video.

then we followed this basic script for conversation and thinking:

ASK:

• What do you think about the Osama Bin Laden thing?  
• What do you think about him being killed by the U.S. Navy SEALS?  
• What do you think about celebrations in the streets?  
• Was this revenge or justice?”

READ: Romans 12:14-21  (one side of the issue at hand)

ASK:  

• What does this have to do with the Osama Bin Laden thing? 
• How do you tend to respond when you’ve been wronged? 
• What does this passage teach about revenge?
• How do you know if “as far as it depends on you”, you’ve done all that is required for peace? 
• What does this passage mean for those in the police force or the military today?

• How does this video relate to the passage in Romans 12?
• Why was he unwilling to die for his enemy? What do you think you’d do if it was you? 
• Who do you think you would die trying to save? 
• What do you think about Chris Plekenpol’s assertion that we treat God like terrorists treated him?

READ: Romans 13:1-5 (the other side of the issue at hand)

• How does this passage relate to the Romans 12 passage? (Make note that it is IMMEDIATELY following chapter 12’s text)  How are they different?  How do they build on one another? 
• What do you agree with or disagree with in this passage? 
• What kind of authority is the kind we should submit to?  
• How do you know when an authority is set up by God and when one is not?  
• Do you think that the U.S. armed forces were used by God to bring justice or used by the evil one to bring about revenge?  Or do you have a different view all together?  What evidence would you give to support your answer? 

This month we’re doing a new series in our high school program called, “So I’ve been thinkin'”.

I launched it last week with a message on Romans 12:1-2 about transforming the way we think and challenging student that if they were going to have a transformed mind, then we need to be thinking followers of Jesus.  I’m a huge fan of students embracing doubt and learning to wrestle with the hard questions of life and faith.  I even think considering a critics viewpoint is borderline mandatory for students to truly understand this faith that I’m trying to encourage them to own as theirs.

Well, this week, the series takes a new turn and I’m doing something I’ve done numerous times over the years; I’m having some of our older student leaders teach in teams of two in our weekend program.

To that end, I don’t just throw students up in front of their peers and say, “teach”.  Instead, the preparation starts 2 weeks out for each teaching team.  Here’s the breakdown.

2 WEEKS OUT:  I meet with the student teaching team for 90 minutes.  I brainstorm topics and texts with them.  Then I give them a basic 101 crash course in message prep.

• INTRODUCTION:  I challenge students to earn the right to be heard and make no assumptions that their audience cares to listen.  I ask them to answer the question for the audience, “Why should I listen?” We talk about the difference between deductive and inductive teaching. 
• TEACHING TEXT:  We select one main text from which to teach that is addressing the topic they want to teach on.
• TEACHING POINTS:  I tell students that they need to come up with some teaching points.  As a general guideline, those teaching points should always be written first person, as an action statement, and in a complete sentence.   So I try and have them avoid one word points or just simply stating facts about faith instead of actions their challenging their peers to join them in. 
• ILLUSTRATION AND APPLICATION:  We talk about the value and difference for both.  Illustration brings the ancient truth into today’s imagery.  The application takes the teaching point and the illustration and merges them into a practical action step.  Both are necessary.  Without intentional coaching, my experience says that most students and teachers tend to teach and illustrate, but miss on the application of the two into a cohesive whole.  So we talk about how to not miss it. 
• TRANSITION AND CONCLUSIONS: I then talk to them about how to transition between points, especially when tag-team teaching.

I confess, I have a file in my office labeled “Navy SEALS”.  I’ve had it for 15 years or so and I keep adding to it from time to time when I read articles written about them.  I’ve used them as teaching illustrations from time to time- mostly for issues like discipline and suffering.

I have always been amazed by their commitment, willingness to endure severe pain and ridiculous demands for a cause, and the elitism of the training process- especially during the week know as “hell week”.  I was fascinated by a Newsweek reporter who once documented the week moment by moment for a cover article.

I then read an autobiography in college (warning- it’s r rated for sure) of Richard Marcinko titled “Rogue Warrior”– the founder of the seal team six. It’s a crazy read and tells extensive details about missions and training and mindset.

I was mesmerized several years ago after we moved to SD and we were having dinner in Coronado when I found myself watching the seals train in San Deigo bay in rubber rafts.  They would fly by at about 40 miles an hour and then each man would just start falling into the water in a tightly choreographed event before they would come by just as fast and pick them back up.  They did this like 20 times as the sun set and darkness crept in.

One of my favorite Ad campaigns of all time is this one from 2005.  It’s for the Navy SEALS and asks, “do you have what it takes?”

The fine print at the bottom says this:  “Pictured, from left to right:” and then lists name and rank of 8 navy SEALS.  Too funny.

Anyway, as a result of all of that, I’ve been slightly addicted to the details of this Bin Laden thing because of the SEAL role in it.  As I read this article, I found this paragraph from a Navy SEAL recruiter incredibly interesting.

“We are not looking for cocky kids,” said Senior Chief Hans Garcia, a SEAL recruiter. “The perfect person would be a candidate who is remarkably physically fit, but is pretty humble, an analytical thinker, a problem solver — someone who is very value-oriented, patriotic, puts service above self.”

Regardless of one’s opinions about the decisions made in the last few days.  I found myself again mesmerized by the description of the ideal SEAL.

• Takes care of their physical body
• Humble
• Thinks before he acts- especially under pressure
• Sees a problem and figures out a way to solve it.
• Value oriented- thus willing to sacrifice and even die for them
• Serves others before themselves.