“All my romantic idealism has been a misplaced longing to unite with God. I’m convinced now my heart was just pointed in the wrong direction.” – Donald Miller
Donald Miller is a best selling author who has written Blue Like Jazz, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and others. The quote was something he tweeted last night while we were in Collide. It’s almost like he knew what we were talking about.
I was always a person who thought dating was a great idea . . . until several years ago. I was asked to teach a class called “Home and Family” at a private high school. There wasn’t a curriculum and I wasn’t really sure how to teach that class to several high school juniors. I decided to break it down into three sections: Dating, Marriage, Family Life. We had some fun projects assigned with the class. I paired students up and they had to get “married.” Then they had to plan a wedding based on a random amount of money they were assigned. Then they got to draw careers out of a hat and had to build a family budget based on their incomes.
While we were in the “dating” section of the class, they had to choose between two books. One was I Kissed Dating Goodbye and the other was called I Gave Dating A Chance. As the teacher, I needed to read the books myself. When I read I Kissed Dating Goodbye, everything I had thought about dating radically shifted. I remembered how my obsession with relationships had affected my junior high and high school years. I remember thinking, “If only I had known what I know now back then!”
The good news is that you can learn now!
What do I DO this week to apply what we’re talking about at Collide? Here are a few ideas.
1. Ask an accountability partner and your parents to be active in your life in the area of relationships and/or dating. Give them free reign to call you out on what they see as dangerous and then follow their suggestions.
2. Pick up a copy of I Kissed Dating Goodbye. You can order it by clicking on the link or check out the church library or youth ministry library for a copy.
