Have you ever put your faith in afriend and felt sure that that personwould come through for you? Howdid you feel when the person let youdown? Would you trust that personagain? Mary and Martha knew theirfriend so well that they trusted Hislove—even when H

Have you ever experienced the deathof someone you loved dearly? Did youturn to Jesus for comfort? Even when wecan’t understand why He is allowing usto go through the pain, we can trust thatHe has a plan, and we can focus on Hispower.

Everyone has some friends who saylighthearted things that are easy tounderstand. But there are other friendswho are deep thinkers. When thesefriends say something, you sometimesend up scratching your head becauseyou are not sure what they mean. Jesuswas o

Think back to when you were learning toride a bicycle. Did you manage it the firsttime? No? Some things take time to learnto do. In the same way we need to practiceusing our talents. The more we practicethe better we will be and the more wecan do to serve

Have you ever been so caught up insomething that you forgot all about thetime? You were so engrossed that youforgot to eat anything, and suddenly yourealized how hungry you were. That isjust what happened to a crowd of peopleone day as they were listening

Have you ever had the measles orchicken pox and were so sick that youthought you would never get well?Maybe no one came to see you for fearthat they might catch whatever you had.Maybe you went to a hospital for a longtime. Can you imagine what it wouldbe

Has a friend ever awakened you whenyou were in a deep sleep or interruptedyou when you were working on animportant assignment? How did yourespond? Jesus told a story about sucha situation. Imagine it happened like this.

Have you ever heard a sermon so radical that it made you want to change right away, but it made other people angry?Many in Jesus’ audience had that experience as He finished telling them about the invisible kingdom. Imagine again one of the boys your age

Has anyone ever said anything to youthat made you think differently than you had ever thought before? How did that change your life? Imagine a boy your age being on the mountainside and listening to Jesus.

Has anyone ever said to you, “You look just like . . . ?” Have you ever thought that it is more than looks that get passed on from one generation to the next? Faith and family customs are also passed on from one generation to the next.