The rising of generation xtreme - part 3 in the serialising of Carl Anderson's Changing Of The Guard

Ask For The Ancient Paths

One old story tells the tale of two young brothers who were carpenters returning for a visit to the home they grew up in. One of the brothers was soon to be married and the old house was to be torn down and a new one erected on its site. For years neither of the brothers had visited the cottage, as it had been leased. As they entered now and started the work of demolishing the place, again and again floods of tender memories swept over them. By the time they reached the kitchen they were well-nigh overcome with their emotions. There was the place where the old kitchen table had stood, with the family Bible, where they had knelt every evening. They were recalling now with a pang how in later years they had felt a little superior to that timehonored custom carefully observed by their father.

Said one, "We're better off than he was, but we're not better men."

The other seemed to agree, replying, "I'm going back to the church and the old ways of following the Lord, and in my new home I am going to make room for worship as Dad did."

"Thus says the Lord, 'Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you shall find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16.

These two brothers chose to return to the "good way," but unfortunately, the choices of our past generations leave a testimony against us, and many sons don't choose the "good way," for the Lord continues with this phrase,

"But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" Jeremiah 6:16.

So perhaps this true story is one of bygone days. For even though the above story has a happy ending and followed the first part of the scripture from Jeremiah, sadly, with the breakdown of the family, our current generation does not end so happily, as it follows the second part of that scripture. Our generation has said, "We will not walk in it."

You see, there is no guarantee that just because our fathers walked in the ways of the Lord, that we will do the same. Billy Graham has jokingly said in his evangelistic crusades, "Just because you are born in a garage doesn't make you a car." There is no guarantee of your sons and daughters following God just because you did. And the mistakes of fatherhood and motherhood can make their mark on the next generation. One only has to read the unfortunate story of righteous Eli and his unrighteous sons in 1 Samuel 2: 12-17. His sons are described as, "worthless men" who "did not know the Lord." Eli was a good man, but he failed in disciplining his children, and as a result they had no respect for him. The problem is not with the children themselves, but with the lack of godly influences. For many, the Boomer/Buster generation let them down; they divorced at an unprecedented rate.

"I hate to say this, but we've nearly lost a generation," says Pastor Bob Ware, member of the Orange County Citizen's Commission for Children. "The children we're talking about are
children who are born to families with no male influence and no money. They may not have the capacity to deeply love. We've got a generation of children who don't know how to bond or how to love. These kids grow up angry and deprived. If we don't turn it around, the system as we know it will collapse."

Let us look at the loss of the men of standard and the effects upon "Generation X."

Will The Real Dad Please Stand Up?

"I don't have a dad and I miss it. I don't have a big brother. Sometimes I get real lonely." -Matthew, age 8

Matthew is the son of a young single mother living in Orlando, Florida. He's just one of the current statistics. Just thirty years ago, one in forty children was born to an unwed mother; today the statistic is one in five. Over one million teenage girls become pregnant each year, and about half give birth.