What is the "Valley of Dry Bones" (Ezekiel 37:1-14) and what does it have to do with youth today? How do the normal but painful periods of dryness in adolescents' lives connect with the unnecessary and painful experience of a community in exile?
This study explores the Scripture passage of Ezekiel's vision and the way that it intersects adolescent life in two ways. First, teenagers experience their own dark times in life, times when they long for and desire the breath of God to replenish and restore them. In addition, teens need to be encouraged to give expression to the places in our world where they witness the downcast spirits of entire communities. People in Darfur, New Orleans, and Iraq understand the drastic repercussions of exile as they live in valleys of dry bones. While our church teens pray for their own dark places and are encouraged to look for hope, they may be challenged to pray for new life to also be breathed into communities far from their own.