DAVID ADAMS reads Travis Barne’s resource for teenagers – ‘Brave in the Making’…
Travis Barnes
Brave in the Making: A teen’s guide to taking back their destiny in God
Star Label Publishing, Queensland, Australia, 2022
ISBN-13:978-0645369700
“Written in simple, down-to-earth language, Brave in the Making will be useful for individual study for a teenager but, as intended, could also make a handy resource for youth leaders to draw on, whether connecting with teens in a church or even school context.”
What does it look like to be brave as a follower of Christ in the world today?
That’s the question author Travis Barnes seeks to address in Brave in the Making, a devotional-style book aimed at teenagers.
The book contains a series of 20 reflections, each of which looks at a different aspect of bravery including trusting God despite your feelings, what being selfless looks like and showing generosity to your enemies.
Barnes, a teacher and chaplain at Christian college based in the Australian state of Victoria, draws on stories from contemporary society from Australia and beyond – everything from Aussie speed skater Steve Bradbury’s famous win at the 2002 Winter Olympics to the dramatic 2010 rescue of 33 miners in Chile as well as stories from his own experience – to illustrate his point before turning to a parallel illustration found in the Bible.
Here we encounter stories from the Old and New Testaments; stories like that of David, who took on Goliath despite the scepticism of those around him, of Gideon, “the unlikeliest of leaders”, and the contrasting stories of the generous and sacrificial Barnabas and the disingenuous Ananias and Sapphira.
And drawing from them, Barnes elucidates some simple, yet profound, truths; truths like “Brave people as God for help. Brave people pray”, “Brave Christians…are generous with their money, words, their very lives – and don’t need to be noisy about it”, and “The brave know Jesus is with the, in everything and so find joy in every situation”.
Each section also contains further Biblical references, a question for personal reflection and a memory verse.
Written in simple, down-to-earth language, Brave in the Making will be useful for individual study for a teenager but, as intended, could also make a handy resource for youth leaders to draw on, whether connecting with teens in a church or even school context.
This article contains an affiliate link.
