How far we\u2019ve come since the worst thing that we could get punished for in school was chewing gum or triggering (with a ball point pen) a stink bomb! Whew! I can still smell that in the halls of my school or the chemistry classroom. And fast forward a few decades to the 2020\u2019s and so much raucous at schools, and not just the kids, but the parents too!
It begs us to wonder if there is hope for this up-and-coming generation. But, as parents and grandparents, we can still prioritize the importance of \u201cThe Golden Rule\u201d and God\u2019s rules as a high priority in our family\u2019s lives. \u201cTrain up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.\u201d Proverbs 22:6
I\u2019d like to take the credit for the following words for parents (actually for all of us), but the credit goes to Alex Cravens, a Youth Pastor at Russellville First Assembly in Russellville, Arkansas. I\u2019m giving credit where credit is due, and we were long overdue for this good word:
“Don\u2019t feel sorry for or fear for your kids because the world they are going to grow up in is not what it used to be. God created them and called them for the exact moment in time that they\u2019re in. Their life wasn\u2019t a coincidence or an accident.Raise them up to know the power they walk in as children of God. Train them up in the authority of His Word. Teach them to walk in faith knowing that God is in control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Empower them to know they can change the world. Don\u2019t teach them to be fearful and disheartened by the state of the world but hopeful that they can do something about it.Every person in all of history has been placed in the time that they were in because of God\u2019s sovereign plan. He knew Daniel could handle the lions\u2019 den. He knew David could handle Goliath. He knew Esther could handle Haman. He knew Peter could handle persecution. He knows that your child can handle whatever challenge they face in their life. He created them specifically for it!
Don\u2019t be scared for your children but be honored that God chose YOU to parent the generation that is facing the biggest challenges of our lifetime. Rise up to the challenge. Raise Daniels, Davids, Esthers and Peters!God isn\u2019t scratching His head wondering what He\u2019s going to do with this mess of a world. He has an army He\u2019s raising up to drive back the darkness and make Him known all over the earth. Don\u2019t let your fear steal the greatness God placed in them. I know it\u2019s hard to imagine them as anything besides our sweet little babies, and we just want to protect them from anything that could ever be hard on them, but they were born for such a time as this.~Alex Cravens<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alex then gives a postscript:
*There have been some negative comments over the wording of part of this post. I don\u2019t want to mess with the original, but I do want to try to clarify because I believe it\u2019s an important issue. I would NEVER suggest that Daniel, David, Esther, Peter, anyone else from the Word or any of us could ever do ANYTHING in our own strength. He knew these biblical heroes could handle these situations only because He found them to be faithful. Because of their dependence on Him they were equipped to handle these impossible situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We should rely on God to sustain, empower, equip, and protect us. If we aren\u2019t dependent on Him and consistent in building our relationship with Him, we won\u2019t be able to change a thing. We are all broken and sinful people who are blessed that God chooses to love and use us. Read your Bible, pray, and get involved in a church. That is where your strength lies. That\u2019s how your children learn who they are. It\u2019s not in your own power. It\u2019s in His!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, Alex, I say a big \u201cAMEN\u201d to your words! God bless you and God bless our children and us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How far we\u2019ve come since the worst thing that we could get punished for in school was chewing gum or triggering (with a ball point pen) a stink bomb! Whew! I can still smell that in the halls of my school or the chemistry classroom. And fast forward a few decades to the 2020\u2019s and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13467,22001,17232],"tags":[1210,21996,756,1321,1769,20695,14488,8064,991,21998,22000,1894,21999,40,7200,5314,21995,21997,5316,8322],"class_list":["post-15087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-empower","category-train-up-a-child","tag-blog","tag-chewing-gum","tag-children","tag-children-of-god","tag-christian","tag-empower","tag-equip","tag-fearful","tag-god-is-in-control","tag-gods-rules","tag-gods-strength","tag-golden-rule","tag-high-priority","tag-inspiration","tag-protect","tag-proverbs-226","tag-punishment","tag-stink-bomb","tag-train-up-a-child","tag-youth-pastor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15090,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15087\/revisions\/15090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}