John 3:18 ESV ”Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

The lovely picture associated with this post was found on the internet. I often search for images that will give my posts an extra punch and this particular one grabbed my attention immediately. When I saw it, it stirred thoughts about our current generation of children and all the issues they face on a daily basis. Things were much simpler when I was a child, yet there were still things that created doubt, brought feelings of fear, loneliness and depression. Even though my roots were often tangled by the surrounding grime of life at times, I was reminded by my parents that God was my lifeline and Jesus my Savior. It took me almost 40 years of living before I truly appreciated that information, but the message is now engrained in my heart and soul. 

During the first half of my life, I struggled with things like a poor self-image. I had a fun sense of humor but wasn’t much in the looks department. I often found refuge in reading books and coming up with my own ideas for stories. There were about five times that I ran away from home, but I always returned after I realized I didn’t have any money or food.The things I faced as a child were less intimidating than kids face today, but we did have things to worry about. 

A world war was just coming to an end. Another war in Korea was looming. A sexual revolution was going on and women were pushing for equal rights. A president was assassinated. His brother would run for president and be murdered before the election. Martin Luther King, an advocate for racial equality, lost his life to an assassin’s bullet. Weekly air raid drills were held in elementary school. Bomb shelters were built. The space program was established. There was corruption in government, that became known to the world via the news media. The Viet Nam war ignited. Men fled to Canada to avoid the draft. Others enlisted and served in this gruesome, senseless war and were poorly received upon their return. PTSD was a term that resulted from that war and probably existed from the times of the earliest battles. A drug culture was born. Abortion was illegal. Then I got married and had children of my own. One of my first thoughts was, how do we protect our little ones from all the ugliness in the outside world? By then I was almost halfway through my life.

Tomorrow, I’ll be talking about the second half of my life and how Jesus finally got through to me and changed it forever. Stay tuned.