A disturbing trend

"Just getting rid of the table and chairs, my family doesn't use it any more - we just sit on the couch in front of the TV."

"I don't believe in marriage - just isn't worth it" (FB post I saw today)


Sounds kind of ridiculous doesn't it? However it is a trend more and more common. Oh, many may not be LITERALLY selling their table and chairs (yes this was an ACTUAL post on Facebook and he was really selling the table!) but they might as well because the days of the family sitting around the table for a meal are becoming less and less.

My heart breaks as more and more Joel and I have seen the destruction and fall of the family unit. It seems like every where we turn we are hearing of marriages ending, children being removed from homes, kids being left to raise not only themselves but their siblings, etc. The enemy knows that the family as GOD intended it was to not just "co-exist" but to literally be united, intertwined, involved, absorbed in one another's lives. It was supposed to include a mom, a dad, and their children.

Yet, the world and more specifically America has tossed this picture out the window. We have come to believe that we really don't need anyone else - to make a lifetime committment may just not be worth the risk. Children - yeah, they're cute and all but really I got my own problems to deal with - they'll be ok without me. Really?

Today I observed the crucial importance of a WHOLE family as it was first created. One of the Pastors that we serve alongside here in Borger has been gone to Zimbabwe for the past two weeks. Today, we got the awesome privilege to watch his 20 month old girl while Mom went back to work (she's a teacher). All day long, little M was captivated by Joel! She wanted to be where he was, was pointing to his pictures in the house when he was gone, wanted to sit with him, etc. Normally, she says "Bye Joel" when he is mentioned but today "see Joel!" "Where's Joel?" all day long. Why the change? My belief - she was missing the Daddy element of the family unit. She, in her little wisdom, knew that the family was incomplete without Daddy.

There are many theories about why our economy and nation is suffering right now - my theory? First and foremost we have taken the Lord out of the helm and right behind that - we have torn apart and destroyed a CORE piece - the family!

It is time to take this important piece of America back! It is time for us as Christians, communities, a Nation to claim the family as key! We need to invest in our families - take time to sit around the breakfast or dinner table, sit around and talk about your day, ask your kids about what is on their mind or happening in their lives. Take a walk as a family - Play a game - Pray together - Read the Bible together. It will be worth the investment!