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YS STUDENT NEWSLETTER #342
May 19, 2008
Contents
1. Something for Your Heart
2. Surf Report
3. Forgettable Fact
4. Potent Quotables
5. Uh, That's Funny?
LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME
The Carter House residents of high school aged girls arrive shortly before school starts. With a crazy mix of personalities, pocketbooks, and problems, the girls get acquainted, sharing secrets and shoes and a variety of squabbles.
Learn more about "Mixed Bags" here.
https://shop.youthspecialties.com/store/product.php?productid=634
Also available in your local Christian bookstore.
Find a Christian bookstore near you:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/store/dealers/
LEARN HOW TO BE A NEW KIND OF SUPERMODEL
Brooklyn Lindsey grew up dreaming of being a supermodel. But it wasn't until she became a youth pastor that she realized God had plans for her to be a different kind of "supermodel."
God has a plan for you, too--and it's probably bigger than anything you could ever imagine. In this book you'll begin to reshape the way you see yourself and the way you dream.
Learn more about "Confessions of a Not-So-Supermodel" here.
https://shop.youthspecialties.com/store/product.php?productid=574
Also available in your local Christian bookstore.
Find a Christian bookstore near you:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/store/dealers/
1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART
AND THE WINNER IS...
In the opening scene of the film Little Miss Sunshine, we see a little girl, Olive, watching a beauty pageant on TV. She rewinds and watches her tape of the final moments of the Miss America pageant over and over, focusing on the response of the newly crowned queen. As Olive watches, she mimics the queen's motions, imagining herself walking down the runway with the crowd cheering and tears pouring down her cheeks. "I want to be that girl," her actions seem to say.
I still get totally wrapped up in watching such pageants and contests on television. One recent show that played on the "pageant" idea was America's Next Top Model. The show was on Wednesday nights, and each week before our senior-high Bible study the girls in my youth group would sit crouched in front of the TV, watching intently as another wannabe model was cut from the competition. Each of us had a different opinion about who should win. Every week I would find the girls arriving for Bible study early so they could watch the end of the show. It's so easy to be tranquilized by the quest for beauty, for personality, and for perfection. I must admit that I'm intrigued by Tyra Banks and her entourage. In fact, I have to confess that I even checked the rules of the show last year to see what the age limit was for entering the contest. I am in a different stage of my life than most of the girls competing, yet there was still that small longing to be that model, to be Tyra's model.
That quest for beauty and confidence, for something that gives us meaning beyond what our parents have told us, never really leaves us. We look for affirmation from multiple places. Olive reminds me of the little girl in each of us, no matter how pretty or awkward we might be. She represents a beauty that is more than charm and a great figure. It's a beauty that springs from the self-confidence she had because her grandpa told her how beautiful and great she was.
We also have this kind of relationship. God, our Creator, has made each of us with great worth and beauty. It's up to us to hold onto that truth with everything we have in us. This knowledge of a God who created us with beauty and grace can give us confidence when the world tells us we aren't beautiful, valuable, or special. Jesus once said, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world" (John 15:19).
God has made you beautiful, with unique gifts and abilities. And Jesus has chosen you as his own. The apostle Paul says it a little differently, describing each of us as "a letter from Christ...written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ before God" (2 Corinthians 3:3-4).
A unique child of God, created with worth and beauty. A person chosen by Christ, and belonging to him. A love letter from God's own Spirit. That's who you are.
YOUR CONFESSIONS
- Have you ever been addicted to a reality TV show that glamorized outer perfection?
- What's the difference between inner and outer beauty? Is it the same for everyone?
- Think of the time you spend getting ready for school or to go out with your friends. What things could change if we spent as much time preparing the inside (spiritually, emotionally, mentally) as we did preparing the outside?
- What's your biggest hang-up about your appearance?
- How can you keep God at the center of your self-understanding? At the center of your dreaming?
Taken from "Confessions of a Not-So-Supermodel" by Brooklyn Lindsey, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here.
https://shop.youthspecialties.com/store/product.php?productid=574
Also available in your local Christian bookstore.
Find a Christian bookstore near you:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/store/dealers/
2. SURF REPORT
~ NeoPets: For those of you with allergies, or who just aren't responsible enough for a real pet!
http://www.neopets.com/
~ Safety at Work: Tips for teens to keep you safe on the job
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/teenworkers/
3. FORGETTABLE FACT
Americans eat nearly 100 acres of pizza every day - that's approximately 350 slices per second!
4. POTENT QUOTABLES
"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go."
~ Dr. Seuss
"All that stands between the graduate and the top of the ladder is the ladder."
~ Author Unknown
5. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?
Life is not a struggle. It's a wiggle. (Taken from an actual fortune cookie)
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