Looking but finding not

"When the PS2 is not funny any longer, we take action man. When he becomes boring, we start making out behind some tree, and then smoking cigarettes during school breaks. Soon alcohol becomes a nice companion on our journey to a rush. And what is then the next step in this entertainment stairway?

Dope.

Lina, 17, is one of those who know how that can be. She started early. The first time she smoked hash she was only 14. 'I was drunk then, too, but I didn't think I felt anything at all', she recalls.
One time is no time, but two times often result in many times. It happened in Lina's case, shortly after that first experience she was given some dope again.
Why did you try one more time?
'I had heard my friends saying that the stuff was of good quality, so I thought to myself: fun! I felt the results immediately and got very giggly. I couldn't stop laughing all evening - and it was easy for me to do it again.'
She uses hash, marijuana, ecstasy...
Do many of your friends use drugs?
'Yes, many. It has become a customary thing, we watch TV and suddenly there is somebody who starts smoking. So you do it too or you do not. Nobody cares, really.'
Have you been thinking about the damage drugs may cause?
'Often, yes, when I was using, I was thinking about my mental capacity. I felt my brains have become slower. I can see it in others, they talk strangely, and then I worry whether I sound like them.' "

Just a loose translation of an article from a local newspaper, about an ordinary Swedish girl. 10% of 15 years'old students in our region have already 'tested' drugs. 7% in the whole country. When they are older, they dare more, they use more, they experiment on harder stuff.
Schizofreny, depression, suicide - just some consequencies of drugs... Heart problems, stroke, unfinished pregnancy...

Those young peope grow up without God in their lives. They are being constantly convinced that they are their own greatest value, that this BIG EGO rules every time, that authority and morality is man-given and optional, that family is not to be concerned with (the system shall provide), and that everything is ok.

Well, if life is that good, why then do they turn to drugs? They are looking, but since they do not know the way, they choose the one they know. They are victims of years of the conscious "God is dead"-policy of this society. God is good at such times as Easter or Christmas, good for business, good for profit. But do not try to talk about Him seriously. He does not exist. Does He?

Almost two hundred of years of the most devastating theory and now we reap what grandpa Darwin planted. I came across a very interesting article, Does Science Contradict Religion, by Philip Vander Elst. What a shame that those young people are not taught the real craft of critical thinking...

Have a good night.

PTL
ann_in_grace

Psa 16:11 Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
Psa 25:4 Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

The Eye Of A Storm

Yeah, I know, what a strange title for today's meditation...

After this past Sunday Service I was giving a lift home to a believer from our church. A very interesting story he had to tell.
He comes from Iran, was born into Islam, and became a Baptist, which resulted in him having to flee from death threat. He abandoned everything - a prosperous career, family (no, no wife, just relatives), and escaped on foot through the mountains to Turkey. To listen to this horror story was a lesson in humbliness for me.
One reads such stories in some books, even watches something like that on TV, but to actually sit across the table (he invited us - me and my son - for a cup of tea) and hear it face to face...
We read Psalm 23 together:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
(Psa 23:1-6)

He said that all that time in the mountains, when he was followed by soldiers and police, he felt LORD's presence, and the words of the psalm were covering him.
When I came to think about it today, the only adequate description that occured to me was "The Eye of Storm".

Think about it: we carry on with our cozy lives, nothing to be afraid of, the only possible inconveniece would be some frowny looks from unbelievers, possibly somebody calling us "silly", maybe some peole quitting saying "hello".
And many of us consider it a disaster? What right do we have to deny Grace on those premises, when there are real people who sacrifice everything, who risk their lives - for Him?
I am a "baby Christian", learning to obey and listen, learnig rapidly, having wasted my previous 45 years on stupid things. But it is already inconceivable to me how people can choose the comfort zone instead for a good fight path in Truth. Especially after listening to that man.
He was in the eye of a storm, literally, and felt safe, trusting God. Shouldn't we?

ann_in_grace

1Ch 16:34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.

An evening one of many, and yet -

A quiet moment in space, between my simple existence and next day of duties and obligations.
While I listen to great words of the Lord, wrapped in the favourite music of one special singer, my children are asleep, and peace is on us.
Gal 5:22, 23