{"id":5482,"date":"2014-10-21T19:19:53","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T00:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=5482"},"modified":"2015-09-29T19:21:40","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T00:21:40","slug":"october-26-2014-parents-just-dont-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/october-26-2014-parents-just-dont-understand\/","title":{"rendered":"October 26, 2014–Parents Just Don’t Understand"},"content":{"rendered":"
Danny Stone, Marion, IA<\/div>\n
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Warm-up Question<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share the story about a disagreement between you and your parent\/guardian\/caregiver.\u00a0 Who won the fight?\u00a0 How did you feel?\u00a0 How did they feel?<\/p>\n

Parents Just Don’t Understand
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In the Grammy Award winning teen rant, Will Smith raps that “parents just don’t understand<\/a>.”\u00a0 It was true in 1988, true now and true when families gathered around the fire to roast a mastodon.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine for a moment a student and father battling.\u00a0 Dad is a strong willed and ambitious owner of a construction company.\u00a0 He has worked hard all his life and dreams that his son will be a lawyer.\u00a0 Mike just finished college and hates the career that is father has chosen.\u00a0 He feels anxious and lost. In the past year, Mike has seen two friends die, leaving heavy questions on his heart.<\/p>\n

While traveling between law school and home, Mike’s car hydroplanes in a thunderstorm, spins wildly and narrowly misses a truck.\u00a0 His car lands in the ditch.\u00a0 With his life passing before his eyes, Mike decides to follow his calling.\u00a0 He vows to quit school and join the Peace Corps.<\/p>\n

Elements of this story may sound familiar.\u00a0 We have all heard stories about children and parents not agreeing about college and career.\u00a0 Who hasn’t felt pressure to excel?\u00a0 This story becomes completely familiar when we replace character names and a few details.\u00a0 The father’s real name is Hans, and he owns a small copper mine.\u00a0 The student is Martin; he is frightened by a lightning strike on the way to University of Erfurt and promises to become a monk.\u00a0 The year is 1505.\u00a0 Yes, Martin Luther’s father wanted him to be a lawyer, not the scholar-priest who led the Reformation.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n