life + drawing the line

This post is going to be long. It's going to be controversial. It's not going to be politically correct. But it's going to be real; and I hope you take the time to read it.

Life. The state of being alive and living day to day. Every single one of you reading this right now; you are experiencing life. 

You are alive; breathing; happy or sad, you, my friend, are alive.

Now, forget everything you've been taught as you've grown up and aged.

If you've been taught that there is a God, forget that for a second. If you haven't, forget that too, for a minute.

Imagine yourself as a 15 year old kid in 2013.

You've grown up in a world where babies are killed by the thousands each day, because they dared to exist.

You've grown up in a world where you were taught that your life is a mere accident; you are here simply because of luck.

When your parents made love the day you were conceived, it was just an accident that you came to be.

And on top of that, every generation up until you was merely chance, as well. You came from monkeys. You have no real purpose. Life is just a mundane part of nature. You're worthless.

The media has told you lie after lie about when life begins.

Babies are killed each day; by the hundreds; removed from their mother's womb by violent and damaging procedures; no one blinks.

Yet, 20 children are shot to death at an elementary school, and the world is in an uproar; and who do they blame? Not the killer - oh, no. The gun.

You're so confused about what life is, what it means, and how it impacts you.

What is the difference? Isn't a child a child? Isn't a person a person? Why is it okay that we murder children everyday using medical tools and "simple", deadly procedures, but using a gun to take a life isn't?

Dr Seuss said it himself; a person's a person, no matter how small. So then why is life so meaningless?

If babies lives have no value, then yours must not either. 

You come to a place of despair.

You feel you have no purpose, no worth, no value.

You're just like everyone else. 

There is nothing "special" about you. 

You take the same classes, wear the same clothes, you are not an individual, and you never will be no matter how hard you try, simply because "normal" is better.

These are the lies you grow up hearing.

From the media; your school; your peers; society; celebrities; if you're not "cool" and "normal", you're not worth anyone's time.

You have reached the edge. Your heart is hurting. 

If there is a God, he doesn't care.

Why would a God who claims to be so loving allow you to hurt so badly?

This is pointless, you think. Now, next year, ten, or 32 years, what's the difference when you go?

You take the leap; and your life ends.

Leaving heartache, confusion, and pain behind you.

----------------

A boy at our local high school committed suicide this past Thursday evening.

My town is upside down.

Asking the questions, how, why, what didn't we do, why didn't we see.

They are surprised.

I don't want to sound insensitive; but I, on the other hand, am not. Which a sad state.

The description I just gave you; being 15 in 2013; that right there, is why I am not surprised.

Our youth - MY generation, has been told our entire lives that life is chance. We are here because of luck.

We have no purpose; we have no plan for our lives.

So why should it surprise us, when after teaching the teenage generation of now the things we have, that they take their own lives?

I know there are other things that contribute to teen suicides.

Bullying. Depression. Anxiety. Mental illness.

But there are so many teens lost to unnecessary self inflicted deaths.

This is the third high school student to commit suicide in my town in two years.

That's three too many. 

When will we catch a clue and realize that this is all our fault.

This epidemic of teen suicides has grown far too much. 

These kids are taking their lives because we haven't taught them they have a purpose. 

There are approximately 4,874 suicides each year per 200,000 people aged 5-24.

Do you get that?

Four thousand, eight hundred and seventy four.

The suicide rate has over quadrupled in the past 65+ years.

Lets see, that puts us back to 1952...

Before abortion was legal.

Before God was taken out of schools.

Before the height of women working outside of the home.

Before the divorce rate skyrocketed.

Are you seeing a trend here?

I am.

Family.

Abortion was unheard of and a horrible, awful thing to do in the 1950s. It became a "popular" way of "disposing" of unwanted life in the 70's.

God was taken out of the school in 1973. Since then, the American youth has grown increasingly more unreliable, unstable, and unable to take on responsibility like kids used to pre 1973,

Fun fact: the term "teenager" didn't come about til the 1920s, and didn't reach a level of popularity til the forties. Even then, however, "teenagers" still maintained responsibility of their actions, mostly. Their age was not an excuse for their actions.

In 1950, women made up roughly 33% of the American work force.Today, they make up nearly half, at 48%. 

Divorce was slim to none in the 50s and 60s. The rate climbed steadily til the late 70's early 80's when it reached it's peak, and became the trend. If it didn't work, throw it out.

So, since the 50's, we've taught kids that:

If the baby isn't what you want it to be, or doesn't come at the right time, or it's inconvenient throw it away.

If God isn't present and we can't see Him, throw him away. That is, of course, until 20 children are shot to death in a elementary school, then, He can come back, cause we need him. but otherwise, throw him away.

If all men are created equal...then women deserve to work outside of the home, too, right? But that comes with a sacrifice...much less time to spend on their family; pouring into the young hearts of their children; involving themselves fully in their lives. Therefore, if raising a family isn't fun anymore, throw that ambition away and go do something else with your life.

Oh, yeah, and when I said "I DO", that was just a joke. Ha, I didn't mean forever and always, all that in sickness and in health stuff...I just meant until I got bored, and you didn't meet my expectations, until you weren't good enough for me anymore, and I fell out of love. Therefore, we're going to throw our marriage away, too!

So then, when we, as a nation, have created a trend of throwing things away that used to have value, that used to have worth, and this is all our youth has grown up seeing, why then are we surprised when they throw their lives away?

Obviously, we don't value that anymore either. It doesn't matter.

America; parents; grandparents; when will you realize that these problems begin in the home?

The only answer is Jesus Christ, and daring to be different in how you raise your family.

We have to stand up and say that life matters.

Abortions are wrong. Life is life; a baby is a baby, 12 minutes old since conception or 12 hours old since birth. A child is a life; a life that deserves a chance to be lived.

We need to bring Him back into the education of our youth; they need to know that He created them with a purpose!! He made them special, and normal is not okay. HE made THEM to be who they are.

We need our families to be families. Women working is amazing, and wonderful; but only if they put equal effort into their children and marriage as they do into their job. Children are the greatest gift of all.

And we need the couples that are jumping into marriage, to stay committed. In sickness and in health. For rich or for poor, til death do they part. Love is enduring hard times, and rejoicing in the good times together.

I get it.

Crap happens. Things don't go how we plan them.

But if we would just start focusing on our kids. 

The next generation of parents are the teenagers of 2013. 

Things will only get worse, unless we stand up and take a STAND for what is right, true, and good.

We are only human; we are a fallen people; but we have a Redeemer who DIED for our inadequacies. 

He is the ultimate reason for life.

You are worth it. 

You have a purpose. 

You are one of a kind. 

You are fearfully, 

& oh so wonderfully made.