This Changes Everything

The first paragraph in this book is about how the author once posted on The Rebelution website, it turns out the author became an editor for that site. When I found that out, I thought "oh no, not another Do Hard Things book about trying your best". But on the next page and the rest of the book it is about the Gospel and how Jesus changes teenagers lives. How because Christians are saved they live under God and not for themselves. After the first page I thought, "yes, this is a book I would like the teenagers in my church to read".

This book is written by a teenager for teenagers, helping them navigate life as a Christian in the 21st century. Leaning on scripture the book takes you through areas of life such as Church, sin, relationships, how we form Christian habits and how we use our time. Jaquelle thinks about the Gospel and how it will affect what you read, listen to and do on your phone. How you can memorise scripture and live with those around you. There is a little section on how to listen to a sermon which I may use next term and there are a couple of links to good resources on the web. While it does get specific, I don't think it comes across as legalistic, but more gives frameworks and asks heart-searching questions on how we are to approach all the good things in our life.

The author herself I think must be a bit of a freak, but that is probably because we have low expectations on what Christian teenagers can do. She lists 11 books she loves, which include The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul, The Vally of the Vision and Holiness by J. C. Ryle. She and her Dad together memorised all of Colossians, Habakkuk and Romans. Know any teenagers like that? Understanding that this is what she reads, it makes sense that this book cites the likes of Spurgeon, Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Bavink, John Owen (and yes Ryle and Chesterton).

Jaquelle Crow makes reference to her parents throughout the book, which reaffirms my suspicion of the influence that parents have over their teenagers. I wonder what it would be like if parents were encouraging and getting alongside their kids to memorise Colossians four nights a week rather than driving their child out to some extracurricular activity. But I don't have teenagers myself, so that may be too harsh.

This book should be given to every Christian teenager. It is a book by a teenager, written to other teenagers at their level about how the Gospel, the saving news of Jesus, changes all aspects of a teenagers life. I haven't read or even seen many teenage Christian living books, but this is one of the best I have come across.