Youth, you are not the center of the world. You are not even the center of the church. But you are very important to us. You are important to us as your fathers and mothers. You are important to us as your grandparents. You are important to us on whom leadership responsibilities have been placed.

We were once young also. We had ideals, we had dreams and we had ideas. We would fix the problems we observed in families and in the church. But life is a brutal teacher. We weren’t as smart as we imagined ourselves. We didn’t pursue our visions like we were sure we would. We weren’t as pure and righteous as we thought. We stumbled. We sinned. We were distracted by the busyness of life and intimidated by problems that became bigger than us.

Have we been a total failure? No, I certainly pray that it is not so. There have been victories and the blessings have been many.

It is natural for every older generation to transfer their youthful hopes and dreams to the rising youth. We have become keenly aware of the winter of life that is fast approaching. It creates a sense of urgency in us. Will we have time to correct our mistakes and undo the damage of our failures?

We begin to transfer our dreams and visions of godly homes and churches to you. We begin to think often about our grandchildren and our great–grandchildren. Will they know God? Will they walk in faithfulness?

We have begun to realize that we must now place more and more trust in you and those that follow after you to assure that our future flesh and blood will love God and walk with Him.

At times, we see your immaturity, your poor choices and your seeming lack understanding and it frightens us. Can we trust you? Sometimes our fears cause us to act badly. We are prone to speak foolish and insensitive words to you. But, really our words come from a heart that cares deeply, even cares desperately.

We need to be reminded of God’s grace and providence. We need to trust Him more. But yet, we know we need to be there for you. You need us as much as we need you. May we be partners in the faith? Can we walk together? Learn together? Pray together and forgive each other?

The world is changing so fast. Change is exciting, but it can leave us confused. Where is God in all this change and chaos? What does He think? Will we be able to remain faithful as history marches on? How can we keep ourselves from being swallowed up by a world dashing towards God’s final judgment? Will we have the energy and the wisdom and the compassion to lift up Christ to a world that so desperately needs Him? Or will we be consumed by businesses and careers and things and play as society crumbles around us?

Yes, we need you. You are our flesh and blood. But, you are more than that. You are our spiritual children. Rachel of the Old Testament said, “Give me children else I die”. If you would fail in your faithfulness to God something within us will die.

Yes, we also need faith. We need to trust that God will continue to raise up spiritual sons and daughters after us. Pray for our faith.

Will you join hands with us? Can we sit down together and talk about God’s purposes for our lives? Can we weep together for the concerns and disappointments we share? Can we together develop a vision for your children and your grandchildren? It would mean so much to us.

When we come to that moment when we must cross the river, we want to look back as we say good-bye and rejoice in the knowledge that we have shown our children God and they are walking with Him and they, too, are showing God to their children and grandchildren.

DSJ