It's been so long...

[Treasure]

[Iryssa]

so long that I never saw it. 12 years I've been alive by God's grace. I wasn't supposed to live, if you judge by the circumstances of my birth. I was born over 3 months premature. By God's grace I survivied, and by God's grace I am free. My mother is currently in jail for Multiple DUIs and Parole Violation. By the grace of the Lord she is returning to Christ. By the grace of God the world goes about its business...

but what are we getting ourselves into...?

I haven't been alive long enough, and some of you older people haven't either. We haven't been alive long enough to remember the days when life was SIMPLE and CARE FREE. When you didn't have psychopathic murderers and rapists running rampant across our globe. When getting high meant swinging on a playground a little higher than your buddy. When the worse thing you got from a member of the opposite sex was cooties. When your parents were your heroes, not Fallout Boy. When your worst enemies were your siblings. When race issues were all about who ran the fastest. When WAR was a card game you played around a table with your FAMILY and FRIENDS. When your family wasn't caught up in all the hustle and bustle of misguided, wordly affairs. When people recongized that there was a God giving them the air they breathed. When people recognized that if your car breaks down and you had to walk 3 miles to work, there are paraplegics who would like a chance for that walk. When all you wanted to do was grow up. When there were Warriors that fought spiritually for God, not warriors who fought physically against other people.

We are approaching the darkest time of out lives, doubtless. We must stay strong in God's Holy Word now more than ever. Let's all remember that we need to have confidence that we are doing the right thing when we're fighting for GOD, no matter what the world may think.

Remember when you all were 5 and the world was a lot better because we all had our internal radio stations attuned to J316 every day? Let's all keep ourselves 5 on the inside.

I once asked a 5 year old who their hero was. They responded.....SpiderMan.

I then asked a 34 year old who their hero was. They responded....Their Parents.

Let's all try and keep what once was in our hearts, and bestow it upon the world so that we may be prepared for what is to come.

By His Name and Grace,

Amen.

I have a feeling that the world was never really so simple and carefree. Sometimes things seem better in memory than when they're in the here and now. Consider:

Now we have troubles with divorce and broken families.

Then a man could beat on his wife with no repercussions and break her spirit.

Now there are abortions and teen pregnancies.

Then there was little medical care and dying in childbirth and in the first few weeks of life were very common.

Just a couple of examples...and those things haven't necessarily JUST started to happen: it's that we have broadcast television that airs the world's dirty laundry for all to see. Back then, it simply wasn't seen by the public, and a great many things were inappropriate to talk about. Abortion, for instance, has been around for centuries...before it happened with a machine or with pills, women used things like herbs to make it happen.