We are feeling all the feels. Our youngest, Soren, is about to graduate from high school. This has been a season of reflection for Angel and me and a season of preparation. In our children’s ministry hallways at New Life next to each age level we have containers that represent how many days of influence remain for you as a parent before your child launches. I recognize, of course, that there is no finish line for parenting, but one’s influence and role changes significantly in each season.

As we look back on our parenting, the most important things we taught our children were who God is and who they were. Angel and I didn’t write Trading Faces: Removing the Masks that Hide Your God-Given Identity specifically for students, but some of the most encouraging responses we’ve received have been from young adults. They’ve said, “Your book was life changing!” “I had never heard or thought about my identities in Christ that way before.” “I feel so much lighter and freer knowing who I am in Christ.” “You gave me words to understand things I’ve struggled with my whole life.”

We look back at our journeys and wish we would’ve come to a more biblical understanding of who we are in Christ earlier in life. We think of the ongoing sin we battled because of our ignorance of the root identity issues behind those sins; we reflect on the foolishness of our decision-making connected to our misplaced identities.

So, have you received any graduation invitations in the mail? Perhaps you might consider sending Trading Faces with that gift card or check. Here are the top five reasons we can think of for giving a grad Trading Faces (with input from some students in our lives):

5. It’s cheaper now than ever! In the past month, it dipped below $15 on Amazon for the first time.

4. Our culture is incredibly confused about identity: some think identity is found in our sexuality, others that it is found in our political affiliation, and others in our vocational calling.

3. Young adults are struggling with depression at alarming rates. Nothing is more powerful in pushing out the negative voices in our heads than hearing God’s loving words of affirmation.

2. It helps us grow in empathy and understanding for others.

1. A young person who knows who they are in Christ is a force for the advancement of God’s kingdom on this world. They can speak truth in love to those who have built their lives on the shifting sand of the substitute identities of the world. And when the trials of the world crash down, they will remain standing on the rock.  

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Photo by Pang Yuhao on Unsplash