Last Night.

We had a great night at Junior High last night. We started our 2 week February series on dating. This is a topic that clearly brings some good discussion and questions for junior highs.

We did a get to know the leader game where teams of students interview our leaders (David, Dakota, Leslie and Shelley) and then reported back to the group on who these people are. I was quite taken aback by the fact that half of the leaders have picked theie noses and eaten what they found. (I won't say which half).

In the message, we talked about the fact that the Bible doesn't give clear instructions to junior high students in Canada in 2012 as far as a dating rule book. The Bible talks a lot about marriage and about doing life together but our concept of dating would be foreign in Bible times. We did recognize that God has a plan for our lives should be lived and looking at that plan can give us insight into how we should conduct ourselves in the dating world. Specifically, we looked at Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:1-3. These verses talk to us about honouring our parents.

After we discussed the differences between honouring our parents versus just obeying we discussed how that applies to our dating lives.

1. Stick to what your parents say. - If your parents have set an age limit for dating or a way they want it to look we need to honour them by abiding by that.
2. Talk to your parents before you date. - Have a discussion about dating with your parents, how it should look, find out why they set what they set. There was some talk about this being awkward but if you feel you are mature enough to date then you should also be mature enough to have that conversation.
3. Communicate with your parents after you start dating. Keep the dialogue open, let them get to know your friends and dates. Be accountable to your parents.

Next week we will wrap up our dating talk by talking about God's plan for us to do life together.

This Friday we have the Love is Moving event in Toronto, this event is for senior high students and young adults. We have invited grade 8s to come along. A couple reasons for this, first, they are probably mature enough for this event. Second, they will be senior highs in about 7 months so it is good to find opporunities to orientate them a little to senior high. The bus leaves at 6pm from the church and should be back by 10:30pm.