Joe White - Dare 2B Wise. 10 minute devotions 2 inspire courageous living

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Published by Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Dare 2/3 Wise 2004 by Joe White and Kelli Stuart

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Permission Department, Simon & Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

White, Joe, 1948

Dare 2B wise / Joe White and Kelli Stuart.

p. cm.

10 Digit ISBN: 1-58229-388-0; 13 Digit ISBN: 978-1-58229-388-2; ISBN: 978-1-4516-0526-6 (eBook)

1. Bible. O.T. Proverbs--Devotional literature. 2. Christian teenagers--Prayer-books and devotions--English. 3. Family--Prayer-books and devotions--English. I. Title: Dare to be wise. II. Stuart, Kelli, 1978- III. Title.

BS1465.54.W49 2004

249--dC22

2004042485

HOWARD colophon is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Edited by Between the Lines

Interior design by Gabe Cardinale

Cover design by LinDee Loveland

Contributing writers: Joe Bednar, Roberta Bonnici, Melinda Booze, Lindsay Hill, Meredith Reed Knapp, Steve Lopez, Dan Mabery

Scripture quotations not otherwise maked are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible . Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Joe White: Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family says that Joe White knows more about teenagers than anyone in North America. President of Kanakuk Kamps and founder of seven other summer camps, Joe has spoken at Promise Keepers, Focus on the Family radio, and NFL football and professional baseball chapels. He has authored fourteen books, including FaithTraining and the Gold Medallion Book of the Year for Teens, Pure Excitement . He and his wife, Debbie-Jo, live in Branson, Missouri, and have four grown children and two grandchildren.

Kelli Stuart: Co-author Kelli Stuart is a freelance writer and editor and is currently working on two non-fiction projects. Kelly lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where she and her husband, Lee, recently celebrated the birth of their first son, Sloan Alexander.

To Trevor Mabery, Jack Herschend, and my dad
the three wisest men I ever met.
Joe White

To my parents, who daily modeled wisdom to me.
My father taught me that persistence and diligence lead to great reward (Proverbs 12:27; 13:4).
My mother taught me that kindness is far more respectable than whom you know,
what you look like, or what you do (Proverbs 11:16).
I am grateful to you both.
Kelli Stuart

My dad was a wise man. Hed say the funniest things to me sometimes, like:

You dont have to; you get to.

It doesnt hurt a fellow to hurt a little.

Its a lot easier to borrow things than it is to give them back.

Its funny how we do things for people who need it the least.

Always be good to your mom.

Funny things? Yeah, because its funny how those simple truths (and a million others) he taught me have stayed with me my whole life.

Daddy read the Bible and tried to live by it. Life for me isnt the same since he died. I miss his words, but mostly I miss his friendship.

When my two sons, Cooper and Brady, were in junior high and high school, Id cook breakfast for them almost every time I was home. (Unfortunately, I travel a lot.) Before they went to bed at night, I took their breakfast order like I was a chef in some big restaurant. I offered a choice of French toast, pancakes of all kinds, juevos rancheros, bacon and eggs, or just a good olbowl of cereal. At the breakfast table, wed open up the book of Proverbs, read a few verses, and talk about them. I learned that practice from my dad, and I tried to follow in his footsteps.

Next we would hold hands and pray, and then the tornado of teenage activity would sweep my sons out of the house. Those devotions were the best way we ever started our days together. Brady played basketball and Cooper played football, so our mornings were crazylike yoursgetting ready for sports and school. Some days they liked their dad and some days they didnt, but God was always our favorite, no matter what. Through thick and thin, we took time to seek his wisdom.

Brady and Cooper graduated from high school in love with God and best friends with their dad. It was definitely worth the priority in our scheduling to have devotions together. Now that theyve graduated, I miss those times together like crazy.

I hope and pray the devotions in this book will bless your life too.

Joe White

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the younglet the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidancefor understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.

Proverbs 1:16

An old bumper sticker that was popular in Texas read, If you dont have an oil well, get one! The obvious joke was that everyone would like to have an oil well, but getting one is a lot easier said than done. The message of the book of Proverbs is similar: If you dont have wisdom, get some! But unlike the bumper sticker, the message of Proverbs is no joke. And unlike the humorous slogan, Proverbs doesnt tell you to get somethingwisdomwithout telling you how.

The highest goal you can set for yourself, the best use you can make of your time, and the smartest choice you can make in life is to follow the advice of Proverbs and get wisdom. But what is wisdom? The meaning of that word is fuzzy, isnt it? Thats because people use the word wisdom to mean all sorts of different things.

In the Bible the word wisdom means the skill to live Gods way. It comes through gaining understanding about how God wants you to live and then applying that understanding by putting it into practice in your daily life. If you do that over the course of your life, youll be wise! And being wise is better than being rich, popular, famous, a great athlete, or any of the other earthly goals we set for ourselves.