Pray for the Next Generation

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6-15-06
Every Thursday we have Bible study in the morning, we are going through Proverbs and this morning we were on chapter 23. A women named Jacobina stopped by this morning right before bible study started. She stayed for the bible study and then stayed afterward because she wanted to talk to and get some advice from meh and unedati. She has three children 18, 13, and 3 all by a different father and none of the children know their father. The oldest one is a boy and he used to attend church here but now he no longer attends. On Saturday evening he stayed out all night drinking and came home at 12pm the next day and went to sleep. When his mother asked him where he was he said that he was out with his friends. He is still in school, currently in 10th grade (it takes many children much longer to graduate and it not extraordinary if they are not able to graduate until 21 or 22). Jacobina has already admitted to her son that she has made mistakes in her past and does not want him to make the same mistakes but she knows that he is at a difficult time in his life and peer pressure is a serious reality. Her story is very similar to the stories of many other women mothering teenaged boys (and girls). Her son is at a difficult age and does not have a father to give him guidance and direction. We were able to have a wonderful conversation and meh, unedati, and I were all able to comfort her…meh and unedati with their wisdom and I with my oldest sibling experience.

The drinking age here is 18 and in many villages like Masheang (where her and her family live) there are shabines, which are illegal taverns which until recently were not able to sell any alcohol legally but now are able to sell 60 cases of beer a week without breaking the law.

Also I found out today that men in this country do not where wedding rings but women do. This is so that men can have many women at one time and this is normal. Not only this but men not only want to be able to have sex with anyone they please but they never want to have to pay the consequences should a women get pregnant, they think that it is the women’s fault and they should not have to take responsibility.

I have been thinking a lot about the next generation around the world and I think that Christians really need to stand up for what they believe in and go out into the world and preach the Gospel. This is the only hope that the next generation has, things are not getting any better. The downfall of the next generation is the downfall of the family structure.

Romans 14:8

For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

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