Do you remember General Colin L. Powell he was the military commander from the first war in Iraq. He has since founded an organization called America’s Promise - the Alliance for Youth.

Here is a quote from him recently:

All children need a laptop. Not a computer, but a human laptop. Moms, Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles - someone to hold them, read to them, teach them. Loved ones who will embrace them and pass on the experience, rituals and knowledge of a hundred previous generations. Loved ones who will pass to the next generation their expectations of them, their hopes, and their dreams.

I think this is so true; but for a variety of reasons we have lost this element of community from our culture. Our culture is not passing on experiences and knowledge from one generation to the next. Our society has bought into “pop culture”which says everything good and cool is new and older people are out of touch and have nothing to offer. And you know, older folks have agreed to back off and stay with their peers. The results are that kids are growing up with no foundation to build their lives on. They are making up the rules as they go along and it is not good.

We have got to turn this around. As adults we (Moms, Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and I’ll add Friends, Neighbors and Mentors) need to push into kids lives through love and kindness and share their stories. There is always some resistance at first because hurt kids don’t want to believe you care because they don’t want to be hurt again if you abandon them.

I believe this change must start in the Church and is really one of the most vital issues defining the future of the church today. Gods’ word tells us to pass on our faith from generation to generation. We see in Israel’s history of what happens when a generation drops the ball. The results aren’t pretty. If you are still taking air in and out and God has worked in your life you have a vital story to tell this next generation.