Kurt Johnston - My Family

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MY FAMILY: MIDDLE SCHOOL SURVIVAL SERIES
Copyright 2007 by Kurt Johnston & Mark Oestreicher

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

ePub Edition June 2009 ISBN: 0-310-86314-7

Youth Specialties products, 300 S. Pierce St., El Cajon, CA 92020 are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Oestreicher, Mark.
My family / by Mark Oestreicher and Kurt Johnston.
p. cm. (Middle school survival series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27430-8
1. Middle school studentsReligious lifeJuvenile literature. 2. Middle school studentsFamily relationshipsJuvenile literature. 3. Christian lifeJuvenile literature. I. Johnston, Kurt, 1966- II. Title.
BV4531.3.O383 2006
248.83dc22

2006024015

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New InternationalVersion. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Creative Team: Dave Urbanski, Erika Hueneke, Janie Wilkerson, Rich Cairnes, and Mark Novelli

Cover Design by Gearbox

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all the guys in our two middle school small groups.

Marko meets on Wednesday nights with these awesome guys: Matt Holliman, Zach Dierdorff, Brian Brangwynne, Shane Clark, Brandon Maddox, and Aaron Lusteg.

Kurt meets on Wednesday nights with these amazing dudes: Joshua Miller, Brandon Blanchard, Parker Reguero, Ben Lorenz, Jordan Bresler, Austin Mercadante, Ryan Nelson, Scott Phillips, Matthew Overmyer, Dylan Souza, Jeffrey Cohen, Josh Duval, and Troy Hughes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Marko wants to thank his amazing familyJeannie, Liesl, and Maxfor being so loving and for your patience while I was writing this. And since this book is about family, I also want to thank the family that was patient with me during my middle school years: my mom and dad, and my two cool older sisters. Once again, thanks to the fi ne people of the Starbucks at Chase and Avocado in El Cajon, for a great writing spot, wi-fi access, and a good stream of strong coffee.

Kurt wants to thank Rachel, Kayla, and Colemy incredible familyfor giving up some of our time together so I could write. I also want to thank two guys named JoshJosh Miller and Josh Treecefor reading each chapter to make sure this book makes sense to young teenagers. And yes, the people at Starbucks in Rancho Santa MargaritaIm a wimp, so I dont drink coffee, but you make a delicious vanilla steamer that warms my stomach while I write.

CONTENTS

See this first really dorky photo? Thats me, Marko, in middle school. Nice shirt collar, huh? Can you tell just by looking at my picture that I wasnt the most popular kid in school? Uh, yeah.

How about this second groovy shot? Thats me, Kurt, in middle school. That haircut rocked, huh? Sure, whatever.

We wanted you to see those picturesas embarrassing as they arebecause we want you to know that we remember what its like to be a middle school student. Partly, we remember because both of us have been working with middle schoolers in churches for a long time. We dont work with high school kids or with any other age group. Thats because both of us are convinced of a few things:

First, that middle schoolers are the coolest people in the world. Really, wed rather hang out with a group of middle school students than any other age group.

Next, that God really cares (we mean, really cares) about middle school studentsabout you. And were convinced that God is stoked about the possibility of having a close relationship with you.

Finally, that the middle school years (about 11 to 14) are hugely important in building a faith that will last for your whole life.

What youre holding in your hands is the second book in the brand-new Middle School Survival Series. This second book is all about getting along with your family (duh, thats what the title says!). The first book in the seriesif you havent seen it yetis about your faith. We have more books planned in the series on friends, changes, future, and school. We hope youll read them all!

Oh, one more thing: You dont have to read these 75 chapters in any particular order. Its not that kind of book. You can read them in order if you want (if youre one of those people who likes order), or you can flip through and read whatever catches your attention.

We really believe in you, and well be praying for you (really, we will) that while you read this, youll grow in your understanding (just like the Bible says Jesus did when he was your age) of God and how much he loves youhow he would do anything to let you know him!

Kurt and Marko

FIRST THINGS
FIRST

FAMILY FACT: CHINESE FAMILY NAMES OFTEN BEGIN WITH A SIGN THAT SIGNIFIESMOTHER. ITS A WAY OF HONORING FEMALE ANCESTORS.

Being in a family really isnt anything new to you. The truth is, youve been part of a family for a long timeever since you were born! Our guess is that youre reading this book because things are beginning to change, and youre trying to figure it all out. Its not that these changes are bad; theyre just different, which means being part of a family is going to look a little different from now on. Because youre growing and changing, your family is going to change, too. Let us make you three guarantees:

GUARANTEE #1: IT WONT BE EASY! One of the reasons family life can be such a challenge is that there just arent any easy answers. Sure, this book is going to give you some stuff to think about and some lessons weve learned, but a good family life really cant be boxed up and sold or written down in a book. The family can be a complicated, confusing thing, and making it work takeswell, it takes work. Lots of middle school students make the mistake of sitting back and expecting everybody else in the family to put in the effort to make it work. Dont make that mistake! God has put you in your family for a reason, and even though its going to be tough at times, he wants you to play a part in helping your family work.