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A View from the Pew
002
Wow, writing again. The last one seemed to be accepted o.k., so I guess I’ll try another one. For the record, I pray before I sit down to do this. My mind can go on all sorts of different tangents, and my prayer is always that the Lord would lead me down the right path.
I thought maybe reporting about last night’s church activities would be good. We met at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at the local public school, Clay County High School. This was announced Sunday morning. I would say as many as 50 of us from Community Church were on site. My understanding is that a school official actually called and asked our church to pray for the school. I don’t know whose idea it was to physically go to the school, but we had permission. The timing was good, because the next day, there was going to be a memorial service scheduled at the school with plans to include an invitation to accept Christ. We had a chance to pray for that assembly, that God would prepare the hearts of young people in attendance. We walked all around the main school building, grounds and parking lot. Our elders anointed the doors with oil. Then, we loaded up and headed over to the office building of the county’s Board of Education. We stood on the front steps and prayed for wisdom for the leadership of the county’s educational system.
I felt...sad. Sad for the generation coming up behind me. School wasn’t great when I was their age, but I think it’s definitely harder for them. I think there are a lot more broken families and non-functioning parents now. It seems like society as a whole has turned its back on that age group. It’s like we’re all so full of our own problems, our own unmet needs, that we just don’t have the strength left to care about them. Or maybe we could care and choose not to. Maybe we really are just self-centered. We do for “me and mine” and as for the others, who have no one, well, it’s easier to just not think about it.
There is a wonderful, 90-something who attends our church. He’s great. He’s everybody’s hero. He’s in his right mind and is even still plying his trade. He never misses a service and always sits in the same down-front seat. He often shares with the church his personal burden for young people. I think he even said one time that he believes God is leaving him here until he can see his vision of a ministry for the children in Clay County established. I’m not a fly on his wall, but I really believe he is in regular intercession for the younger generations. We could all start there. We could pick one school a week and pray over it each day. We could begin praying for the children who live near us. Even if we don’t know their names, God knows. He totally knows and has a plan for their lives. Ask yourself this: what if no one prayed for you? We have a responsibility for them. Psalm 145:4 tells us we are supposed to be declaring the works of God into the next generation.
To experience a renewal in our public education system is going to be a multi-faceted effort, much like the war on drugs (which deals with addicts, sellers, judges, politicians, etc.). I feel like we as the church could start first by repenting for ignoring the school-age generation. But that’s just my view from the pew.
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