Ten Time Bombs: Defusing the Most Explosive Pressures Teenagers Face

by Ronald Hutchcraft

Overview

You get only one life…Make it one you’ll never regret!Every young person, including you, lives with pressures that really are like ticking time bombs. But you don’t have to be a victim—if you know how to defuse the most explosive pressures young people face. Ten Time Bombs is your personal “Bomb Squad” manual, showing you some very practical ways to avoid life-wrecking explosions.Through humor and practical straight talk, Ron Hutchcraft provides answers to some of the most important and confusing pressures in a young person’s life:Sex Friends Family relationships Things that make you angry Things that make you depressed Things that make you hurt The lonely times How you handle your feelings and choices in these areas will decide the kind of life you have now and for many, many years to come.So don’t just sit there. Get a life! And make it the best one possible.Adults: Ten Time Bombs is for you, too!Looking for some practical insights into the top pressures of today’s young people? Rod Hutchcraft’s straight talk will equip you with knowledge and understand so you can provide help to a young person you know!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310208082
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	10/01/1997
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ron Hutchcraft is an author, speaker, and international radio host of such programs as “A Word With You” and “Alive! with Ron Hutchcraft,” the most widely circulated Christian youth broadcast in the world. A thirty-four year veteran of youth and family work, Ron has spoken around the world to thousands of people, presenting practical answers to real-life issues. Ron has one wife, three crazy kids, and a pet parakeet named “Cherokee.”

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 2
The Romance Rebels
TICKING TIME BOMB #2: Pursuing Dates Instead of Friends
Here's a little rhyming game. Think of words that rhyme with dating.
'Rating!' Good one. A lot of that is going on as guys look at girls and girls look at guys.
I can imagine a couple of guys standing on a street corner, checking out the girls. You can hear them mumbling their 'ratings' to each other---six, four, three-and-a-half. Ah, but then two girls walk up to the great raters and announce that the girls have been watching them. 'Really?' the guys reply excitedly---'How'd we do?' 'Minus three!' And the two guys check themselves into the emergency room---for an ego transplant! Actually, dating and rating do go together a lot as everyone is checking out the prospects.
Of course, baiting rhymes with dating, too. And people are playing all kinds of games to attract and catch a girl or guy. Like a fisherman deciding which bait will attract the fish he wants, people fishing for a partner try to offer what their 'fish' will go for.
Then there's waiting. That is what dating means to many people---waiting for something romantic to happen to them. There are probably more people waiting a lot than dating a lot!
There's another word that rhymes with dating---hating. The dating game can lead to you either hating someone you used to love---or hating yourself and asking questions like, 'What's wrong with me?'
Actually, the way we date and rate people is not working very well, since half of the marriages our dating system produces break up! The system that is supposed to be producing love often gives us loneliness instead. Instead of bringing people closer together, it often leaves people farther apart.
But because romance is the only kind of male-female relationship most young people think about, that is the only kind they pursue. And pursuing a romance is pressure---pressure to impress him or her, get a relationship, keep a relationship, maintain a relationship, and define a relationship. 'Are we just friends, brother and sister, seeing each other, going out, going steady, pre-engaged, engaged, committed, uncommitted, or confused?' Pressure!
The whole dating process is so superficial, so pressured, that it often leads to warped relationships. Let's look at three painful results of our current dating system.
The Lone Ranger
For starters, imagine a young woman who is dating one of those TV heroes of the Old West---the Lone Ranger. First of all, she is going to have to get used to having Tonto along as a chaperone all the time. The Lone Ranger's trusty Indian companion was his American Express card---he never left home without him! But even if this girl can get her man alone, she has a problem. It might surface like this:
Penelope: 'Lone Ranger, I'm tired of calling you Lone Ranger. What's your name, big guy?'
Ranger: 'Sorry, Penelope---my identity must remain a secret. But you may call me Ranger for short.'
Penelope: 'I can deal with that. But, well---you see ...'
Ranger: 'What is it, Penelope? I want you to be honest with me.'
Penelope: 'Well, Ranger boy---it's ... it's the mask. '
Ranger: 'What about it?'
Penelope: 'I can't really get to know you if you insist on keeping that mask on! Something's got to change here!'
Ranger: 'You're right, Penelope.'
Penelope: 'So you're taking off your mask?'
Ranger: ''Fraid not. Hi-ho, Silver!'
(Sounds of hoofbeats fading into the distance)
Penelope: (spitting dust) 'Great. Well, who was that masked man?'
Tonto: 'The Lone Ranger!'
Penelope: 'Wait a minute. Who are you?'
Tonto: 'Trusty Indian companion, Tonto. Wanna date?'
Penelope: 'Never again.'
What girl would want a relationship with the Lone Ranger if his identity was covered up with a mask? That is exactly what happens in many dating relationships. Many young people have gone out with someone who ended up being the Lone Ranger---or Rangerette. The pressure of dating creates an ugly result I call masked strangers.
Since impressing a guy or girl is critical to getting a guy or girl, most people wear a mask that will make an impression. Unfortunately, some people never find out who the real person was behind the mask---until it is too late. Many dating couples never really get to know each other as real people---they were too busy being lovers or impressers. And so many people have ended up looking at their husband or wife one day and realizing they married a stranger. Because getting and keeping a 'date' is so often based on superficial attractions, many relationships never really get beyond the surface---even though they may get very involved physically.
Being 'close' is what dating is supposed to be all about. Since a romantic relationship is often too pressurized for -people to get emotionally real and emotionally close, they settle for getting physically close. And they end up with another ugly result of the pressure to be romantic: love robbers.
The Love Robber
You're together a lot, and it's just the two of you. You run out of things to talk about ... you run out of things to do. Hello, making out. Hello, making big mistakes.
Yes, getting involved physically feels good. It can even feel like you are really getting close. But it can end up costing you love.
Anyone who has ever been involved in a physical relationship knows what happens---when you start touching, you stop talking! Sex is such a strong force that once it is unleashed in a relationship, it takes over. And much of the talking and communicating that really brings two people together---not just their bodies---is lost to the heat of making out. Honestly, it usually becomes, 'How soon can we get to it?' And the 'it' is not talking. So, the physical affection that was supposed to make you closer actually keeps you from really getting close.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS Introduction 1. Sex at Its Best! Ticking Time Bomb #1: Sacrificing Sex at Its Best for Sex Too Soon 2. The Romance Rebels Ticking Time Bomb #2: Pursuing Dates Instead of Friends 3. The Play-Doh Squeeze Ticking Time Bomb #3: Letting Your Friends Decide Who You Are 4. Mission Home Improvement Ticking Time Bomb #4: Surviving Your Family Instead of Improving Your Family 5. Running Without Baggage Ticking Time Bomb #5: Letting the Pain of the Past Poison Your Future 6. Volcano Land Ticking Time Bomb #6: Letting Your Anger Control You Instead of You Controlling Your Anger 7. The Ugliest Island in the World Ticking Time Bomb #7: Choosing Loneliness Instead of Challenging Loneliness 8. The Tomorrow Robber Ticking Time Bomb #8: Getting Desperate Enough to Give Up Your Tomorrows 9. Ambushes from Hell Ticking Time Bomb #9: Opening Yourself Up to the Dark Side of the Supernatural 10. Prime-Time Poison Ticking Time Bomb #10: Letting Garbage into Your Control Room