But seeking God s voice can be invigorating and exciting, and adolescents are motivated to hear the whisper of God or see his fingerprint in the choices they make. Built-In Energy Tension is the natural electricity that results when faith and reality clash, when conflicting values meet, when hard choices must be made in the trenches of broken lives. If you believe in God, if you ve decided to follow Christ wherever he leads, then all your decisions are at odds with prevailing cultural values. Moments of such decisions are filled with significance. Because faith matters, your decisions matter and when there is much at stake, there is a resulting urgency or energy during the decision making.
Faith adds suspense to each moment of our lives and mystery can be a great catalyst for discussion.
Each strategy here has been included because of its potential to create a dilemma or situation with conflicting issues, which require young people to think through the alternatives and consequences before arriving at a decision. Most decisions in the real world require sifting through layers of values before a choice is made. For example, say a girl is asked to lie for a friend so the friend can be with her boyfriend. The girl is torn between her friendship, her respect for her friend s parents, telling the truth, and making it possible for her friend to lie. A decision must be made a decision that favors one value at the expense of other, often equally weighted values.