There is a huge revival sweeping the world. People are coming to Christ in every country, the word of God is reaching the unreached, and penetrating hearts and souls. The next great awakening is happening everywhere…everywhere but here. Here the number of atheists and agnostics has quadrupled in the last twenty years. That’s not even a lifetime! I can’t tell you how much this frustrates me. Some say that because America is not mentioned in Revelation, that we will fall before then. Many have said that if something doesn’t change within the next generation we will be, as so many other countries, a nation where empty churches abound. And I believe that it all hinges on one choice: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” There is a point when teens and twenty somethings have to make their faith their own. I don’t know if could count the number of high schoolers I know who go to church, who go to church because they have to, but really don’t care. There are so many that I could guarantee will not go to church once they reach college. I know it’s not my place to judge them, I try not to; I love them for the amazing people they are, and I try to be like Jesus. I won’t say I don’t get ribbed for my choice, but I also get respect. It’s not that most of them hate Christians or Christianity-it’s just that they’ve made their choice, and mine is different from theirs.
This subject hass been becoming ever so much more prominent on my radar as I watch those around me go into or come out of the choosing time. Some people are years in the process, for others it’s an easy decision. Regardless it’s an important decision, it’s a decision that alters the course of lives, and of nations. There are multiple speculations on why this generation is, for the most part, deciding to leave the church, and often Christianity as well. I’ve heard people say it’s that church isn’t exciting enough, or that we don’t give them what they really need for their lives. There are those who blame it on the media, and the culture we live in, others who say that it’s the parents’ fault. I think it’s probably a mixture of all of these things and more. Not being able to identify the main cause, or to change the various causes that have been identified is discouraging. I try to point people in the right direction, but it all seems so small in the scope of a generation. It’s their decision, and nobody else can make it for them. I can make my own choice, but I can’t make yours for you. You can choose the easy road of fulfillment in the moment, or you can choose the difficult journey towards eternal life. Sometimes all my attempts to reach out seem so fruitless. I can’t give up, yet what impact can little me have? I know that’s not God speaking, but I’m going to be honest and say that those are the thoughts in my head sometimes.
I’m fighting the norm, I’m choosing the harder road, I’m more and more going the wrong way on a one way as I watch those around me physically head in the way that their hearts have been heading for a long time. It’s sometimes disheartening, but it’s the choice I’ve made. As I continue my attempt to make my way upstream I look at the youth of a nation around me. Sometimes my soul weeps at their fate, sometimes my words seem like a shout drowned out by the crowd, but I can’t do nothing. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.*” This is why I keep fighting. I’ve made my choice, and I’m still standing. Are you?
*Edmund Burke
Journaling a Journey... 
I’M FIGHTING WITH YOU!
We fight our battles to show other people that they can win, too.
“There is a point when teens and twenty somethings have to make their faith their own.” EXACTLY THAT.
It’s so sad, all those thousands of kids going around being good, with question marks in their eyes. And no one, hardly, that can really answer their questions.
Maybe if there were more of you, more of me, more of US…maybe if people weren’t so scared to stare their questions in the face…maybe the emptiness wouldn’t be so haunting. I don’t know.
After all, we’re here for them, aren’t we?
P.S. I haven’t actually fallen off the face of the planet, I’m sorry, lol. I’ve been rather wordstuck lately, but I haven’t forgotten you. 😉
Yes, and maybe there are more. Maybe they’re just afraid to step out. Or maybe the more we reach the more reachers there will be. Someone has to show them that it’s ok to face their questions; it’s more than ok, it’s just so right.
I am very glad that you haven’t fallen off the face of the planet. I was beginning to wonder…
And I have to add that I love your new profile pic. Tell me, do we share the same strange fascination with snakes and reptiles?
YES WE DO.
I mean, I’m not Steve Irwin or anything, but those dark guys are so amazing. Snakes especially. Maybe it’s because I grew up in mud puddles helping my brother catch lizards and frogs and whatever else, but I simply can’t understand what sends girls screaming the other way. (Really? They’re just like cats, only not as soft. Come on! They bite, you bite back.)
You like them all that much??
Yes, snakes are the best, except maybe blue tailed skinks who leave a tail wriggling in your hand, and are extreamly mysteriose and hard to catch. Yes, really, why run away screaming from snakes, or spiders for that matter?
I do, they fascinate me. I wanted to have one (a snake I mean) as a pet, but unfortunately Mom didn’t think that was a great idea.
This is so great, and SO true. The same with my church. Most of the teens there wont come (or dont) by the time they hit senior in highschool. I will though.
A few years ago I read a quote that went something along the lines of: “In the past, people who played golf on Sunday lied and said they went to church. Now people who go to church on Sunday lie and say they played golf.”
Hmm. Very true, very sad. Definately something to think on.