May 17 – All change!

Psalm 139: 1-6 “Lord, you have examined me and know all about me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do. Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know it. You are all around me—in front and in back—and have put your hand on me.
Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is more than I can understand.”

The day had come! The child you had nurtured, developed, protected, and loved for the past 13 years, went to bed one night. It had been a perfectly normal day, ending with the usual evening routine....homework, family meal and discussion of how each persons day had gone, along with banter over whose turn it was to clear and wash the dishes. Afterwards the family had settled down together to watch a video or TV programme. Following devotions the child hugged you, said “Goodnight, God bless, and “I love you,” - you were to remember well those words over the following months and years.

Why? What is so different with the loving, obedient, cooperative child who went to bed that night, and the one who faced you over the following days, weeks, months and years (when you managed to lever them out of bed!) Suddenly, you had an alien on your hands – looks the same, and that's about as far as it gets. Your child was out to make a statement – “I am not a child. I make my own decisions – you can no longer tell me what to do – say what you like, I don;t want to go to church, it's boring! you might think it's right, but I don't!” The teenager is born!! https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/

The human brain is the most complex biological structure in the known universe. Its roughly 86 billion nerve cells, power all of our thoughts, perceptions, memories, emotions, and actions. It’s what inspires us to build cities and compels us to gaze at the stars. At the onset of puberty the most incredible, amazing changes begin to take place in the teenage brain, taking control away from both parents and child. The roller coaster ride has begun.

Several years ago Frances E Jensen’s 16-year-old son wrote off a car. A few years earlier, her other son had returned from a friend’s house with his hair dyed jet black. The University of Pennsylvania neurologist was finding her teenagers’ erratic behaviour increasingly taxing, so she decided to study teenage thought processes and gathered her research in the book The Teenage Brain. She found that while much had been written about teen psychology and parenting, no one had explained the neurons and cerebral connections that make those years such a unique – and terrifying – part of growing up. The teenage brain has only recently become a subject for serious research, which shows how little was known about it....“We expect a little bit more out of adolescents than we should, given where their brains are,” she says.

When we become adults, average adults, it is assumed that, barring illness, we will have gained at the very least, a modicum of maturity, and willingness to listen to advice. But is that so? Morris Venden, in his book “God Says, But I Think” suggests that even as adults, we remain as self-opinionated as we were as teenagers, and asks “Has God's word taken a backseat to our opinion?” It seems that just as you - parents, can advice, suggest, or, as a last resort, put your foot down, we as adults are no better than your son or daughter. .

Morris says it's “a valid question because an increasing number of Chrisstians today are depending on someone else to do their spiritual thinking for them. As a result, we are becoming a highly opinionated, confused, and spiritually weak people who are vulnerable to deception and to every wind of doctrine.”

Does that description fit me?, fit you? Do we depend on God in every aspect of our faith and life? Does it urge us to have a faith that is grounded and centred in Christ and His Word rather than one that is based on the fickle opinions and experience of others?, or, do we blow with the wind and change our views with every article we read, every programme we watch, every politician who “tells you sincerely folks” every sermon we hear preached?. Or, do we check out with the Word of God and through prayer, everything we hear and are told? If it tally's, if it's confirmed through the Word, we can accept it as gospel.

I must say, I agree with Morris that the tragedy of the teenage and adult rebellion began in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve knew what God said, but thought their way would be alright, - “God says, but I think I'll do it my way.”

Three other illustrations quoted by Morris are, “a golden calf on the plains of the wilderness, and the people have only recently heard a warning against it from the mouth of God Himself. But they said, “We know what God said, but we think it'll be alright.”

“Ananias and Sapphira, who knew about God's warning against false witness, but the thought it would be alright to tell a falsehood to the apostles....Uzzah, who with others, had been told to keep his hands offthe ark. But he said, “I think it'll be alright.”

Scientists say our brains do not mature until we are in our early twenties! I thank God we have eternity ahead of us.

The music choice today is “I'll pray for you” - the Gaither Vocal Band (LIVE). Click as usual on the picture to listen.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/25/secrets-of-the-teenage-brain

Sarah-Jane Blakemore - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zVS8HIPUng - the mysterious workings of the adolescent brain.

teenagebrainfacts.org