Mark Oestreicher - My Future

INVERT YOUTH SPECIALTIES

MY FUTURE
Copyright 2008 by Mark Oestreicher and Scott Rubin

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ePub Edition June 2009 ISBN: 0-310-86316-3

Youth Specialties products, 300 S. Pierce St., El Cajon, CA 92020 are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

ISBN 978-0-310-27884-9

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible,Todays New International Version. TNIV. Copyright 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design by Gearbox

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to our sonsall future middle schoolers!Max Oestreicher, and Tanner, Dawson, and Brock Rubin. What a crazy-cool privilege it is to see you rocketing into your own exciting futures!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Scott wants to thank Lynette, Tanner, Dawson, and BrockTeam Rubin. Youre my four favorite people on the planet. Thanks also to my Elevate teammates: Jason, Brandon, Wes, Courtney, Phil, Leah, Chris, and Melissa. How do we have this much fun while pointing out Jesus to junior highers scattered around Chicagoland? I also want to thank my friends at Regular Joes Coffeehouse for providing a tremendous place to write, think, and drink. And thanks to God, for loving me.

Marko wants to thank his shockingly amazing family: Jeannie, Liesl, and Max. I sure do love you guys. Big thanks to my YS peeps, alsoyou make my work fun. I didnt write this book at a coffee shop like I normally do, so I guess I should thank my backyard and the patio at YS!

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, Scott, 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 sixth and final book of 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 third book is about you and your friends (its called My Friends). The fourth book is all about schoolits called My School. And the fifth book is about the massive changes you go through during middle school, so we named it My Changes. (Were so smart!) 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 (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.

Marko and Scott

Do you ever think much about your past? The past includes all of your little-kid years, but it also includes last week. Basically, the past is whatever stuff is in your memory.

Or maybe youre a person who likes to focus on the presentthis moment right now when youre reading these words.

But how much thought do you give to the future? Hmm?

Whats past is already gone. Theres no changing that around. But the FUTURE is full of possibilities.

WHAT IF? I WONDER? COULD I?

Some of it seems amazing and exciting. Some of it can feel uncertain and even worrisome. And you get to choose!

When you were younger, you probably didnt think about the future much. You woke up in the morning, played with some toys, cried til someone gave you some food, watched some Jimmy Neutron, then played some moreyou get the picture. The future didnt mean much to you. You didnt really care what day or time it was, and you certainly didnt think about what would happen that dayyou just took things as they came.

But nowin your middle school yearsthe future is taking on a whole new meaning. And even though it can feel scary sometimesit can also be thrilling, especially if youre ready for it.

We (Marko and Scott) love helping middle school students think aboutand get ready fortheir futures. Some people look at middle schoolers and think, Those punks have so much growing up to do. Why bother talking to them about the future now? But we know there are lots of things bouncing around in middle schoolers brains. Some of them are about the near futurethings youll experience in the next few years (or even weeks and months). Some are about things in the way-out-there futurethings you wont have to deal with for many years. But the thoughts youre having now will direct your future.

What youve just read is already in the past, so lets dive right into (drum roll, please) your future!

Lets start with a handful of Bible verses about the future:

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, you cannot discover anything about your future. (Ecclesiastes 7:14)

Since no one knows the future, who can say what is to come? (Ecclesiastes 8:7)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)