Eeew Yet Awesome

Doing a message series on sex and dating is tough, I’m finding myself changing my approach as I scurry to get the majority of these messages done before the series actually starts.  The problem is that I don’t give enough time or energy to the subject…ha ha…no not like that.  I don’t spend enough time crafting my message so that when it’s delivered teen ears are engaged and not closed.
I mentioned to my 7th grade guys small group that we were going to start this series next week and they immediately responded in teenage fashion.  Some said, “Eeeew” as if I had pulled a dead body into the room and others said, “Awesome, I love sex.”  Both answers were comical, but revealing to the crowd I have to deal with.  It’s a hard subject because it’s something that no one ever really wants to talk about it, but when we do we are so bad at it, that it makes us want to forget about it.  It’s almost like talking about sex means reliving our sex education classes in middle school and high school, when in reality it’s different.  I’m not going to teach anatomy, I’m not an expert on it, but some of the things that need to be addressed on the subject are:
lust vs. desire
temptation/pornography
marriage/abstinence
abusive vs. healthy relationships

I guess I could go on, but I’ve just realized listing them all is a little overwhelming because it feels as if we have to cover everything.  But when it comes down to this subject it’s really addressing our desires.  And when it comes to desires we have to reach back to the series we did in the fall Mapmyfaith (Drive for adults) and see that it’s not intention but direction that determines our destination.  When it comes to sexual desires it’s really up to what we do with them. 
So…we’ll see how it goes, I’ll let people know, but this should be a fun series.