EXTINCTION...

I was recently sitting in the car waiting for a friend as she picked up her little ones from daycare. I sat and watched a group of 20 or so little tykes all playing in the confines of a little fenced in playground. They ranged in age but the majority were between 2-3 years old. at first i thought of how cute they were and then i was struck with sadness. Here in this fenced area being cared for and fed by strangers were our future. Not unlike the endangered animals in a zoo our children are also endangered.

The values and morals of our youth are in jeopardy. I did some research online and was looking for news articles involving youth. In 2008 the top ten headlines involving our kids were related to school shootings, drunk driving and kids being arrested for a variety of offences from trafficking narcotics, videotaping teens beating another teen, and gang violence. I searched then for top headlines from the the 40's and 50's, the articles involving youth were scarce the ones i did come across involved sports, the occasional rowdy crowd loitering around, screaming trying to glimpse a famous musician and one or two in regards to truancy levels.

This saddens my heart. Since the days of stay at home moms, bread winning men, and God in our schools has passed on, it has made way to divorces, single parents having to work, feminism and the need for over crowed daycare facilities. This has transformed our teens futures in to a bleak reminence of social morality.

our mothers instead of marching there kids back to the store they stole from and demanding the owner make them work it off are now covering up for them and making excuses so they don't have to deal with it right before there shift starts.
instead of taking pride in preparing a meal and eating as a family we are ordering out and watching TV. pushing the ever important conversation out the window to make way for more reality TV, instead of taking interest in our families we choose to watch someone elses on the screen.

Juvenile detention facilities are reaching there max and new ones are being constructed as we speak to house all our misguided and neglected youth. Just as the Siberian Tiger is pushed to extinction due to our over consumption of the worlds natural habitats our teens are being pushed to self destructive extinction due to our under consumption of all the things we are meant to be doing. Our youth need to be heard, fed, talked to, nurtured, disciplined and loved. God said

• "Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul." - Proverbs 29:17


• " Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged." - Colossians 3:21


• "The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction." - Proverbs 16:21


• "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." - Proverbs 3:3


• "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.' And he worshiped the LORD there." - 1 Samuel 1:27-28


• "children are a gift of the Lord..." Ps. 127:1-5


• "poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline" - Prov. 13:18


• "discipline your son while there is hope, and do not desire his death" - Prov. 19:18


• "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." - Prov. 22:6


• "fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." - Eph. 6:4

Everyone always says i wish kids came with an instruction manual... well guess what? they did... It is called the Bible, it was given to us as an instruction manual to life. There are many more references in the Bible pertaining to child rearing, being good wives and husbands, how to live each day for our Saviour and most importantly how to get to be saved! If you haven't read it you should, all the answers to lifes toughest questions can be found there.

Lets get our world back on track and save our youth from the devastating effects of extinction! pick up the BOOK today it WILL save your childs life!!!!

with many prayers for our future,

Leanne