Bruce Bickel - Goodbye High School, Hello World

PRAISE FOR

Good-Bye High School, Hello World

This book is filled with everything I want to tell my daughter as she prepares for young adulthood. Bruce and Stan understand and relate to this age group in a wonderful way. This book is the new Burns family graduation gift!

PRESIDENT, HOMEWORD

Bruce and Stan draw from real experience to give us a must-read book for those graduating from high school (or recently graduated) and their parents.

PRESIDENT, BIOLA UNIVERSITY, LA MIRADA, CALIFORNIA

Wow! This is a must-have manual for making the zillion and one transitions from high school to real life. From dorms to dating, careers to character, parents to professors, Bruce and Stan have got you covered.

AUTHOR, GIRLFRIEND, YOU ARE A B.A.B.E.!

Good-Bye High School, Hello World is like a trusted, experienced friend pulling you aside and giving you the real scoop on one of the scariest and most exciting times in your life. This book is a must-have for any college studenteven more important than a microwave and a minifridge!

EDITOR, YOUTHWALK MAGAZINE

Bruce and Stan are marvelously connected with post-high school students, keenly perceptive about what faces them, and amazingly gifted in communicating with them about integrating faith and life. This is a wonderful resource for young men and women. My only regret is that it wasnt available when I was in my late teens!

CHANCELLOR, WESTMONT COLLEGE, SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA

2000 Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz

Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

Revell edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-2459-0

Originally published as Real Life Begins After High School by Servant Publications in 2000. Updated and revised edition published by Regal Books in 2005.

Ebook edition originally created 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

This book is specifically and exclusively written to those students who have recently graduated from high school (or are about to). If thats not you, then put this book down. If it is you, then keep reading.

What youll find in this book comes a little bit from us, Bruce and Stan, and a lot from the collegeaged guys and gals whom we have known over the past few years. We even contacted many of them during the writing of this book and asked for some specific advice and words of wisdom. Youll find their quotes sprinkled throughout the following pages.

But there is more to this book than just practical advice and information. The most important part of our lives is our faith in God. That spiritual dimension brings balance, hope and confidence to all other aspects and details of our lives. We cant honestly talk about your future without including God in the discussion. Actually, it is amazing to realize that God has a specific plan for you:

For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD.

They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

If you are serious about making plans for the next few years, you ought to at least consider what God says about your future.

We are genuinely excited for you because we know that the next several years in your life are going to be a great adventure. Youll experience a combination of freedom, responsibility, learning and recreation that wont be matched at any other stage in your life. With our help, maybe, just maybe, you can do it without ending up in debt, in the hospital or in jail.

Bruce Bickel

Stan Jantz

Because you are reading this book, you are probably a recent high school graduate or at least counting the days that you have left.

For your first 17 years or so, your parents and other adults dictated the circumstances of your life. In a big way, they decided where you would live, what you would do and with whom you would do it. Oh, sure, you had your own personally selected group of friends, and you had freedom of choice to a limited degree. But lets be honest: It wasnt really your choice to spend the Fourth of July weekend at Great Aunt Marions house while she recovered from her bunionectomy.

By your eighteenth birthday and high school graduation, however, you enter an awkward transitional stage. We dont mean awkward in the sense of being uncoordinated and clumsy. (That happened in middle school. You have, no doubt, outgrown that stage and now move with grace and dignityor at least without stumbling over the paint lines in the parking lot.) We mean awkward in a bizarre sense:

The law says you are an adult, but your parents say you arent.

You are old enough to join the military and fire antiaircraft missiles, but your parents dont want you playing paintball because you might get hurt.

Your parents tell you to assume more responsibility for yourself, but they feel compelled to remind you to carry tissues when you have a cold.

What you could use at this awkward stage of your life is exactly what you dont think you need: advice. Were not talking about the advice your parents gave you during those lectures you didnt listen to. Were assuming you already know these things:

If everybody jumps off a cliff, you shouldnt do it.

Dont drive without a seat belt; dont run with scissors; and dont step outside the house in just your underwear.

Smoking cigarettes is a disgusting habit (even if it qualifies you to be a plaintiff in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the tobacco companies).

Were talking about advice on the aspects of life that you havent experienced yet.

You know a lot about what you know. But you dont know much about what you dont know.

Your lack of knowledge doesnt mean you cant survive on your own; it just means you need to learn a little bit more about what you dont know.

When your parents tell you these things, (a) you wont listen, or (b) they will be upset (or at least disappointed) if you dont follow their suggestions. But not us. We dont know you, and we havent shelled out big bucks for 18 years to keep you in high-fashion footwear and braces. So our feelings wont be hurt if you question our wisdom or scoff at our advice. But just in case youre worried that we might get a little parental on you, heres what we promise:

Well be objective with you. Weve got no ulterior motives. Unlike some parents, we arent looking to you to support us in our old age. So we dont have any particular career path already picked out for you. We dont care if your ideal job is to publish newspapers or to deliver them. Well tell you the good and the bad and the pros and the cons without trying to influence you. Well give you the facts as we see them, and then you can make up your own mind.