Navigating Route 20-Something

Title: NAVIGATING ROUTE 20-SOMETHING (A Lifemap for the Road Ahead)
Author: Erin Keeley Marshall
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
2008
ISNB: 978-0-7369-2192-3
Genre: Inspirational/devotional/young adult

YOU’VE GOT ONE SHOT AT LIFE. HOW WILL YOU MAKE IT COUNT? (from the back cover)

When we are teenagers, we dream of a lifetime of adventure and potential. And sometimes, for the lucky ones, reality exceeds our hopes. But usually our life leaves us confused and disillusioned, and you wonder “Just how do you work this thing called adulthood?”

Ms. Marshall doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but she does have bits of advice, such as:

Ø Comparison is the death of contentment
Ø You or your fears—one will win. Make sure it’s you.
Ø When relying on God, waiting is not a waste of time.

Each chapter begins with a kind of friendly story, where the author casually talks about things with the reader. Then she goes into the devotional, where she talks about Biblical people and how they relate to the topic at hand. Several scripture references are given. And then the last section is “consider this” and several questions to ponder, discuss, or maybe even answer.

I enjoyed reading through the devotions in this book, and offered it to my older teen sons to read, but they didn’t seem too impressed by it. Maybe because they aren’t technically out on their own yet, so they don’t know how relevant it is. I would have liked to have seen lines in the book for recording thoughts and answers, but if you kept a notebook handy when reading through this book, that would work too.

I really like the Make it Matter section at the back of the book. It includes random suggestions for living abundantly. Some of them are rather dull, but some of the others are really good suggestions. Pick up a copy of this book for your graduating college senior, or high school senior. $10.99. 186 pages.