Hard Things

-31 days toward intimacy with God By Joni Eareckson Tada
-Don't waste your life by John Piper
-Do hard things by Alex and Brett Harris
-Morning and Evening (devotional) by Charles H. Spurgeon

These are some titles of books that I received as graduation gifts. They all look really good! I haven't read them all yet (that won't last long though), but I want to highlight the one that I have finished reading: Do hard things by Alex and Brett Harris.

I read this book in about 5 days, I could not put it down! This book was written by teens for teens and it's message is what the title says DO HARD THINGS. I had heard about the Harris twins and a little bit of what they were doing with their blog (now http://www.therebelution.com/) but had only heard bits and pieces of their story and how they came to an understanding that teens should be doing hard things.

Some key points from the book:
1. Alex and Brett challenge teens to not look to the culture for what they should be doing but to base their lives on the word of God and to seek what God wants them to do.
2. They name five kinds of hard things: the first step, raising the bar, the power of collaboration, small hard things, and taking a stand.

I won't go into any more detail as I want all of you to go buy a copy! It is a wonderful message for teens and I was greatly encouraged by this book.

Here's what I hope you leave this book with:
1. A sense of excitement
It's great that the youth of my generation are ready to become prepared to go out in the world as fearless Christians. I loved all the stories in this book of teens accomplishing great tasks. I was just plain excited!

2. A sense of change
I do hope that this book will affect many lives for the better of our society and our churches. One of the things my Dad pointed out was that the reason teens aren't doing hard things is because of the expectations of the church. The church uses the adults and doesn't expect much of the youth of the church, except to go to youth group and hang out. I hope the seed of change has been planted firmly.

I might explore this area more in future posts, but I'll stop there for now.
I know that I rambled a bit, so if you have questions just leave a comment. :)