A Brilliant Idea I Ruthlessly Stole

Okay, maybe not ruthlessly. I am giving props where props are due.

I hang out with teenagers...at times more than with people my own age. We meet in the early morning at Starbucks sometimes, and other times at my apartment to watch The Office, or just to share a meal together. We text, we talk, we shop, we giggle together, we serve together. Some of the teenagers still catch themselves calling me Miss Jennifer, because that's how they first met me when they were in the children's ministry.

Of those teenagers, a few I know more than others. But one is my favoritest of all time. I call her Sam-I-Am, and she is lovely and kind and everything I think followers of Christ should be. And I am lucky to get to be her friend. I first got to know her when she was a freshman, but in her junior year, she and I got to really know each other, spend time with each other, and got to see each others' hearts. I've gotten to see her grow in this relationship with one of my all-time favorite boy teenagers ever, and if I can have a relationship like theirs, then I'll be a lucky girl. I've walked with them through tough times in their relationship, and through tough times in their church, and she's walked with me through the same.

But she's graduating in May, or June, or whenever high schoolers graduate. And I don't want to give her just any old graduation card and money holder. I want to give her something meaningful. Something that she will cherish and something that will serve her well. Honestly I hadn't given it much thought.

Until I read this. This guy is brilliant, and I read his blog a lot, and this is exactly the kind of meaningful gift I can give her that she can take with her to college and beyond. What's even better is that I think our church gives the graduates their own Bible just like this one as a graduation present, and she can in turn do the same thing and give it to someone else. Paying it forward.

I'm excited about this because it will force me to read the Bible every night, even when I'm not feeling it, and also, to think of it in terms other than I normally do. And it's an opportunity to minister to her from afar, if she chooses to go away for college, which I think she might. And I would bet that it's going to help me in ministering to her in the everyday, which I do now. I'm so excited, I went out and got the Bible. Now, I'm a little behind, because I have less than a calendar year, but I know that I'll catch up. A lot of times when I sit down to read the Bible, I can't stop myself.

Let the journey begin...