Michael DiMarco - Independence Day. Graduating into a New World of Freedom, Temptation, and Opportunity

2012 by Hungry Planet

Published by Revell

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.revellbooks.com

Ebook edition 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.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3614-2

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

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007

Scripture quotations labeled GW are from Gods Word. 1995 Gods Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Published in association with Yates & Yates, www.yates2.com

The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

I t was the summer of 1776. Our country had just declared independence, and I had just graduated from high school. Okay, I didnt graduate that long ago, but sometimes it feels like it. For me, graduating from high school was my Independence Day. All I ever thought about was becoming independent and moving out of my parents house. Dont get me wrong, my parents loved me, but I just wanted freedom and all the opportunities that came with it. My parents had random rules like no watching TV after they went to bed, no leaving the clothes dryer on if everyone was leaving the house, and no making fun of my sister. Oh, the bondage! After I graduated, even though I was going to go to college in my hometown, I couldnt wait to move out. So two high school buddies and I got a two-bedroom apartment, with Crazy Eric converting the dining room into his bedroom.

No curfews.

No parents.

No siblings.

No food in the fridge.

No hygiene.

It was awesome.

After twelve years of being forced to do something (school), I was now independent to do what I wanted when I wanted. At least if I could afford to. Moving out of my parents house was my declaration of independence. And I declared my independence again when I bought my first car, graduated college, and got my first good paying joball little Independence Days. But my high school graduation was the first big one. Of course, my idea of independence was way different from my sisters. Her idea of independence had to do with money and security. So she didnt move out until she was in her midtwenties, and that was only because she had gotten engaged and didnt want to move directly from my parents house to her married house. She wanted to check off that she had lived on her own, even if it was for only a year. So while she lived at home for free, she worked her tail off, bought the things she wanted, stashed cash, and put up with the crazy house rules as a trade-off to achieve her financial independence.

So what comes to mind when you think of independence? Guys with powdered wigs signing a scroll with ink on the ends of eagle feathers? A slave freed from the bondage of a cruel and immoral master? Or maybe just something simple like getting the keys to your first car?

Before defining something, it can be easier to recognize what it isnt . Like how figuring out who to date usually starts with a list of people you definitely dont want to end up with. So heres a list of words that are the opposite of independent: dependent, subservient, constrained, restricted, enslaved, helpless, subordinate, weak, infirm, invalid, incapable, debilitated, disabled.

And heres one more from DiMarcos Thesaurus : unawesome.

Thats what dependence feels likesometimes even if its dependence on those who love us and raised us. When were children were dependent on them to put a roof over our heads, feed us, clothe us, drive us, insure us, sign permission slips for us, and be legally responsible for us. But before I accidentally make an argument for people not to have kids, lets jump to a definition of what independence is .

To be independent is to be free from outside control, self-governing, capable of thinking for yourself, and self-sufficient. In less dictionary-ish terms, it means choosing where to live, what to eat, who to be, what to become, how to achieve all that, and why it all matters. For the achievement-oriented person reading this, it sounds like the perfect life. For me, the where to live and what to eat sounds freeing, and the rest sounds like a lot of work! But thats what comes with true independence.

In fact, one of the biggest myths about getting independence is that everybody wants it. Truth is, just about everybody says they want independence, but when it comes right down to it, not everybody wants the work that goes with it. Think about it: Who has more worries, the girl who has to do everything for herself or the guy who just does whatever hes told to do? Lets face it: We want the car but we dont want to pay for the insurance. We want our own place but we would rather get free rent. This is why momma birds will eventually nudge their babies out of the nest; the momma knows that a bird that never leaves never soars on its own, and so it never really becomes a bird but just stays a worm-eating nest ornament.

So whether youre scrambling to get out of the nest as fast as you can or you feel the cold, sharp beak of a parental in your back pecking you to your edge, independence is coming your way, whether youre ready or not. And this book is here to help you deal with the three major things that come with your first taste of independence:

• Freedom
• Temptation
• Opportunity

All three have their upsides and downsides. Yes, we are going to talk about the upside to temptation! But first things first. I want to give you a pop quiz. Before you scream Noooooo! just calm down; this is an easy one. Here goes:

Good Riddance (Question #1): Whats the thing youre going to miss the least in your life after graduating?

Oh Wait! (Question #2): Whats the thing youre going to miss the most?

Cant Wait! (Question #3): What are you looking forward to the most after graduation?

Dont Go There (Question #4): What do you fear the most about life after graduation?

Thats it. Easy, right? What youre probably going to find is that those questions and your answers to them have a lot to do with how ready you are for independence and how you will handle freedom, temptation, and opportunity. But to show you that Im with you and not against you in this quest, let me tell you how I would have answered those questions as the seventeen-year-old me (yeah, I was a youngun when I graduated).

What was the thing I was going to miss the least in my life after graduating? I already mentioned it, but living at home! Seriously, just too many random rules that didnt make sense.

What was the thing I would miss the most? A lot of my friends, some of my teachers, and I guess how comfortable I was at my high school. I wasnt super popular, but I was popular enough that school was fun.