It would be really hard for me to 'pick' which part of the ministry I love the most. I love to preach, I love to teach, I love to do Praise and Worship, I love going to Driscoll Childrens Hospital, I love the nursing home, I love Mentoring, I love the Rehabilitaion Centers, I love being a husband, father, and grandfather, I love serving the Lord all of the time. There is one though that has becomes 'Special' to Judy and I, and that is teaching at the Detention Center. We see kids from all facits of life, and social economic situations. Most of all we see kids. Kids that were created in God's image and who have lost their childhoods do to some kind of circumstance. But, they are still kid's.
With our new son, Jacob, I see daily howhe has lived a life of a 30 year old, but the fact is he is still a seventeen year old young man. I explained to him a couple of days ago that we are not treating him like a 'kid', we are treating him like what he is, a seventeen year old, and it is hard for him to realize this.
Today was one of those mornings that God reached down out of heaven an touched the young kids sitting amongst us at the Detention Center. Almost from the start of our time kids eyes were welling up as if rivers of tears were about to flow endlessly. We sang 'Better is one Day' and it opened up the conversation about the reality of everyone will die and face eternity somewhere. We read Jude (only made it a third of the way through) and hands went up, questions were being asked, and tears again surfaced. Hands were going up and kids were saying they want this new life, and it was humbling to see what God was doing. We ended the day by singing 'I can only Imagine.' Tears again began to flow and everyone wanted my card before we left. You see, every young man and lady there has the opportunity to call Judy and I when they leave. They all want to turn from their old lives and live the new. The smiles and looks we get when we give them those cards is overwhelming. They know that we are there for them 24/7-365. Let us all pray that they will pick up that phone.
All of this was great and God had done His part by drawing those kids to Him. Sadly though, as Judy ministered to three young ladies, the guards immediatley turnd the TV back on to where a movie had ended for us to speak. Sexual content and partying flooded the screen of that TV and I watched in horror as these broken kids were now faced with the world and all that it has to offer once again. I looked at the staff and thet too were laughing at the movie and engrossed with every word and what they were watching. I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to stop everything ans say "These kids will have no chance if they continue to watch this stuff!"Then I was filled with grief and compassion because the Lord was showing me something else. He was showing me that these kids are being exposed to the same trash that believers allow theirselves and their kids watch. I stood there horrified and grieved.
As a Pastor I deal with families and kids on a weekly basis. I am the one that parents expect to pick up their kids broken pieces. I am the one that people look to to magically make their marriages better. I am the one who people make excuses for their immoral actions and ungodly lives to. My heart aches because it is all common sense. "Trash in, trash out!" We all have heard it, but do we do anything about it? There are very few TV shows on today that does not have some sort of 'sexual' content and profanity. There are very few that are not focused on realtionships and self centeredness. Kids are now use texting to say things they would never say to someone face to face, or even go as far as to send sexual pictures via texting. We atke kids to church, act like we worship then we sit our young sons down in fron tof our TV's watching a football game with half dressed cheerleaders expecting them to not go in their closets and act on what they have seen. We watch all of the Beer commercials, crude commercials and all that the world has to offer then exect them to live godly lives. Is Sports really so important that we are willing to risk our childrens futures? They are kids! How do you think they will respond? What seeds are we really planting? Are they seeds of godliness?
The past paragraph is not even what I was thinking of before I began this blog, but please let me ask everyone this "What do we think kids will be attracted to?" I praise God that He has afforded Judy and I to be His hands and feet at the Detention Center. We learn more and more every week about kids, and how we have messed up and may be messing up this generation with things of the world and not Jesus. We as believers should not have kids that struggle with the world 'IF' we would quit providing them the world! The seeds we plant will have 'Eternal' consequnces. Re-evaluate what you tink is ok and save your kids today from the brod gate~
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