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

In a recent article on the welfare system, The New York Times quoted one 32-year-old Baltimore man who had fathered six children with four women-none of whom he married or promised long-term assistance. At one point, three women were pregnant with his children at the same time.

His explanation: "I was wild, like all kids."

Can you see the breakdown in the morals? One of the ways to pawn off the guilt we feel at the consequences of our actions is to blame another, and rightly so, we are examining a lack of fatherhood one of the causes of our lost generation. This man was a bastard son raising bastard children. Chances are, this man never bonded with a father in his own life.

There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read:

"Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father."

On Saturday, eight hundred Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

Carl Anderson

Recently I heard the true story on the radio of a man in a Federal penitentiary who came up with the great idea of creating Valentine's Day cards for the men to give to their fathers. He set out immediately in his creative mode, designing and printing beautiful cards for the coming holiday.

He put an ad four weeks previous to the event on the bulletin board, selling the cards for $1 each. Sadly, no one responded. Three weeks before the day he dropped his price to $.75. No response. A week later he dropped the price to $.50. Still no one responded. In a last-ditch effort to at least recoup his money, he dropped the price to $.25 one week before the day, and still, no one responded.

When he finally gave in and offered them for free and still had no response, he went to the warden. He was shocked at the news. Of the 5,000 men in the prison, not one had a father in the home while they were growing up.

And I suppose this kind of thing has been happening, to some extent, in every generation. Even the Psalmist wrote, "For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up." Psalm 27:10.

Say It Loud, Say It Clear

As far as young women go, problems take on similar fashion. I have ministered to several young women who were experiencing all sorts of problems with male authority. Of the multitudes of young women out there, many are caught in the web of addiction, others with immoral actions and lifestyles, and many of them have never bonded with their fathers in harmonious love and recognition of godly authority. As we've already explained, much of the cause of the breakdown has been a lack of strong fatherhood.

So be we young men or women, we have a difficult time in relationships. We're especially weakened when it comes to opening up our hearts. Because we haven't received love or value, it is hard to give it.

The lyrics to a pop song ring with words of truth: