Kurt Johnston - My Friends

INVERT

MY FRIENDS
Copyright 2007 by Kurt Johnston and Mark Oestreicher

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ePub Edition June 2009 ISBN: 0-310-86315-5

Youth Specialties products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020, are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.

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Creative Team: Dave Urbanski, Laura Gross, Mark Novelli, Janie Wilkerson, and Rich Cairnes
Cover design by Gearbox

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to our two best friends from our own middle school years, two guys who (and this is amazing) are still two of our best friends, all these years later.

Markos buddy was, and still is, John Mathers.

Kurts buddy was, and still is, Mike Pace.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Marko wants to thank his amazing familyJeannie, Liesl, and Max. Thanks for being so loving and for your patience while I was writing. Thanks to my seventh grade guys small group: Shane, Bryan, Lex, Matt, Zack, Aaron, and especially Brandon Matticks, whose last name I spelled wrong in the dedication of My Family because Im still a dork.

Kurt wants to thank Rachel, Kayla, and Coleyoure not just my family; you really are my best friends. Thanks, also, to Matt Hall, who helped me when I was stuck (which seemed to happen quite often). Youre a great friend, Matt!

CONTENTS

See this really dorky picture right here? Thats me, Marko, when I was in middle school. Nice shirt collar, huh? Can you tell I wasnt the most popular kid in school? Uh, yeah.

How about this groovy picture? Thats me, Kurt, back during my middle school years. 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 weve 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 were both convinced of a few things:

First, 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, God really cares (we mean, REALLY CARES) about middle school studentsabout you. And we believe God is stoked about the possibility of having a close relationship with you.

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

This book is the third in a new series: The Middle School Survival Series. The first book is all about your faith (thats why its called My Faithduh!). The second book is about your family (its called, not-so-surprisingly, My Family). The fourth book is also available nowits called My School. And we have two more books planned for the series: My Changes and My Future. 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 to (if youre one of those people who likes order!); or you can just flip through and read whatever catches your attention.

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

Kurt and Marko

FRIENDSHIP
BASICS

Heres a wild thought: God created you to have friends. And friendship itself is something God thought up first.

See, God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all God, right? (We know this can be confusing, but stick with us.) We call that the Trinitythe three different persons of God who are still one.

Dont sweat it if that doesnt make sense to you. Just get this: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all exist together in communitylike an intense, committed friendship. So when God says in the Bible that were made in his image (Genesis 1:26-27)which just means we, in the deepest parts of who we are, share some similarities with the God who created usthen we must have that deep-friendship thing built into us.

You could say were wired for friendship or we have the programming for friendship. But its up to us to use it.

Think about this, tooGod created everything that exists. Actually, first God thought of it, and then God created it. Laughter? Yup, God thought it up, and then created it. Palm trees? Yup, God thought them up, and then created them. Iguanas? Same thing. Families? Check. Friendship? I bet you can see where this is going.

So, when you read this book about friendship, and when you think about how you can be a better friend, and when you try to be a great friend or to make new friends, youre moving closer and closer to who God created you to be!

STUFF YOU CAN TEACH YOUR FRIENDS: LUCILLE BALL, JIM CARREY, JOHNNY DEPP, DREW BARRYMORE, BECK, CUBA GOODING JR., AL PACINO, DEMI MOORE, KEANU REEVES, AND BRUCE WILLIS ALL DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL EITHER TO SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES OR BECAUSE THEY DIDNT FIT IN WITH KIDS THEIR OWN AGE, DESPISED HOMEWORK, OR WERE DESPERATE TO BEGIN THEIR PURSUITS OF STARDOM.

SCHOOL IS HARD. HOMEWORK IS HARDER.
FINDING GREAT FRIENDS...EVEN HARDER.
TAYLOR, 8TH GRADE

Now that youre moving into your middle school years, you may have noticed your friendships are changing. In fact, weve talked to hundreds of middle schoolers who struggle with this. Sometimes they feel guilty because they dont want to hang out with their childhood friends anymore. And sometimes theyre pressured (by their parents, usually) to make different friends than the ones they already have.