September 1993
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As September comes upon us, and summer begins
to fade, the thoughts of many turn to one overriding concern: School children say "goodbye" to the past months of leisure, and return to the daily grind of receiving an education. Parents stand at the door, wave "goodbye", and hope that their children will be all right.
But our children are not all right. The three "R's" of "reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic," have been replaced by the three "S's" of sex, sedition and secular humanism. Immorality is up, alcohol is up, rebellion is up, profanity is up, crime is up, and suicide is up; while religious freedom, respect for authority, education requirements and S.A.T. scores are all down. Outcome based education does not demand that students understand academic concepts, but does demand that they feel good about their ignorance. Parental values are not something to be reinforced, but rather something to be "clarified." Is this what education is all about?
Solomon, at the end of his life, wrote "Remember now thy Creator
in the days of thy youth." The elementary and teenage years are the most vital time in a person's life. It is during this period that values and goals are established. Work habits and ethical standards will be determined. A person's view of God, home, and country will be shaped. In other words, this is the time when a Godly parent's influence is the most necessary. We must teach our young people to think about God and His Word today. It is too late to worry about it when they go off to college. One nationally known youth pastor put it this way: "Building youth is better than mending men." How true. Yet we as parents often take these vital years and entrust
them to someone whose values and beliefs we do not know. Then, because of our unwillingness to take the time to maintain our children's spiritual and educational progress, we watch them graduate and say to ourselves "What happened, I hardly know this person!"
Parents, nothing is more important to your child than his or her relationship to the Lord. Be constantly vigilant, whether your child is in the public school, the Christian school, or a home school, to see to it that your child remembers his Creator right now, while he
is still in his youth.
Your Pastor
Mark Montgomery
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