Nancy Rue - That Is SO Me: 365 Days of Devotions: Flip-Flops, Faith, and Friends

How can a young person lead a clean life? By carefully reading the map of your Word.

Psalm 119:9 MSG

I f someone asked you, What is SO you? you might answer with something like this:

• Wearing flip-flops (with sparkles, of course).
• Playing soccer ALL weekend.
• Watching a Pixar movie marathon.
• Reading Anne of Green Gables for, like, the twentieth time.

The answer you probably wouldnt give would be, Reading the Biblenot unless you were trying to impress your Sunday school teacher. Its not that you dont believe in the Bible and know its important, but, lets face it, most of the time it doesnt seem to have anything to do with you, right? Take this verse, for instance:

Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.

2 Kings 7:1

First of all, whats a seah? Or a shekel? And why do you care how much flour and barley cost four thousand years ago? How does any of that relate to YOU, when your biggest challenge at this point is understanding fractions or figuring out why your best friend is mad at you now?

Actually, a verse like that doesnt have a whole lot to do with you. But there are plenty in the Bible that do. Check this one out:

The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in [people] who are truthful.

Proverbs 12:22

Doesnt every girl you know need to be reminded of that when the gossip in the restroom gets juicy?

The Bible is really full of verses, stories, and explanations that are SO you, right now, in your tween-hood. All you need is a little help finding the parts that are all about you and some pointing-in-the-right-direction so you can put them to work. This book will give you both.

Heres how it works. Each day that you sit down with That Is SO Me youll read a page that will include:

• A verse or two from the Bible.
• A few paragraphs that will help you get how those verses are about you.
• A section called Do That Little Thing with a suggestion that will help you put the verse to use.

The days of the week will look like this:

• Sunday Do That Little Thing This is a quiz, but there are never any right or wrong answers. You just pick out whats true for you.
• Monday Find Out Youll ask one or two grown-ups you know who love God to help you figure something out.
• Tuesday Just Think This gives you something to toss around in your mind, daydream about, and imagine.
• Wednesday God? Can We Talk? This will suggest some things for you to talk to God about in your quiet time together.
• Thursday Listen Up! Maybe the hardest one, this will ask you to get really quiet and listen for Gods voice. You wont necessarily hear words, but you might have a thought or feeling you didnt have before. Sometimes the answers will come later, through something that happens or something somebody says.
• Friday You Can SO Do This This will challenge you to take action on something youve learned during the week.
• Saturday Shout-Out This will be your chance to give God a shout-out, sharing something that hes done in your life during the week. It might feel funky to you at first, but it might turn out to be one of your favorite parts.

If you just read and do the activity every day, by the end of a year youll totally get that this treasure called the Bible is your guide for living an awesome lifea life where things arent quite so confusing, problems are easier to solve, and people are not as hard to get along with as you thought. Thats a lot.

If you do MORE than thatif you copy down some of your favorite verses and keep them with you, or talk to your friends about the stuff youre learning, or do those little things most of the timeyoure not only going to get the Bible, youre going to live the Bible.

You might start out just reading the page-a-day because your grandmother gave you this book and your mom says you have to do some kind of daily devotionaland thats okay. Once you hear your own questions as you read and see situations you are facing and feel an Oh, I get it! in your brain that sends you off to fix something thats been driving you nuts for weeksonce that happens, this book and your Bible will probably go with you to sleepovers and summer camp and Grandmas house. (And wont she think shes all that for giving it to you in the first place?)

Whats even cooler is that not only are you going to get to know the Bible as your handbook for living, youre going to get to know God. The Bible is, after all, the record of God talking to his people and his people listening (or not listening) and obeying (or not obeying). Thats why its called the Word, and it can answer four important questions for you. Questions like these:

• Who is this God everybody talks about?
• Who am I in Gods eyes?
• What does it look like to be who God called me to be?
• How can I be the God-made me in a world thats so mixed up?

For that reason, That Is SO Me is divided into four parts, each one covering thirteen weeks, or ninety-one days, or 2,184 hours, orwell, you get the ideaso you can explore those four questions and find the answers. Of course, when you completely lose your mind and become a teenager youll have a lot MORE questions, but by then youll be a That Is SO Me graduate who knows how to find the right-now stuff in the Bible, how to understand it, and how to use it.

Before you start, there are a few things youll want to do to get ready:

• Pick a time in your day when you can spend 20 or 30 minutes with this book and not be interrupted. If that sounds impossible with your familys schedule, talk to one of your parents and see if they can help you carve out a half hour when your pesky little brother is taking a bath or before you have to turn your light out at night.
• Find a place where you can be alone and wont be distracted by everything in life. Pick a spot where you wont be able to see or hear the TV, the Instant Message beep on your computer, the leftover pizza thats calling your nameIf space like that is a joke at your house, again, ask one of your parents to help you locate a little haven. Its the absolute best when you can keep your Bible, this book, and your favorite pen there and dont have to hunt for them every time.
• Talk to God ahead of time about how youre doing with this idea of a WHOLE YEAR of devotions. Whether you think its the coolest thing on the planet or you would rather memorize the multiplication tables than do this every single day, put that out there for God and ask for whatever help you need. If youve never really talked to him before, nows a great time to start, just by saying, out loud or in your mind, God? Can we talk? (The answer will be yes!)

Thats all there is to itexcept for one more thing that may be niggling at you, especially if youve never been excited about reading the Bible or dont really know much about it. You may be wondering, How do I know the answers to my questions are really in there? Its perfectly okay to think about that. Doubt is an important part of faith, because if you never honestly ask the questions that are truly bothering you, youll never find out what you want to know.

Paul, who youll read about in the weeks ahead, was totally devoted to Jesus and changed his whole life because he asked him to. He understood about those little nagging doubts, and he has helped people with them for centuries by writing this:

Theres nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way. Every part of scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live Gods way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.