KATE'S STORY

It was the 1950’s and 1960’s when life was still pretty simple.  Neighbors still looked out for other neighbors’ children as they played in each other's yards.

Our family was a military family until I started Junior High School, and we moved every 6-20 months.  Mama had a secret to success in raising us 5 kids.  When checking out a new air base or new town, she looked for a church and a grocery store and then schools, and then Dad and she rented or bought a house near to all of those.   She and Dad were raised in the Lutheran Church, and she knew churches had good, godly, helpful folks,  and godly teaching for her children.  We often heard her say “God provides.”    And we were truly blessed!

And then Dad and she taught us to put God first in everything.  Daily we were to stay in God’s presence and read our Bibles.  For our younger brother and sisters, the brother closest to me and I would read Bible stories from the Bible story book to them as we were all getting ready for bed.  Mama or Daddy would lead us in prayer before we all got tucked in.

She also taught us that as we got blessed, we were to bless others.  We often had a vegetable garden at each place we lived, and as the produce came on, we would share with our neighbors.  Others would share back with us because they might have extra eggs from their chicken coop, or they grew vegetables other than what we grew.  A neighborhood was just an extension of the family, and we all tended to one another. 

It was also the 1960’s when things began to change, when anti-God people fought against allowing schools to have someone read a Bible verse or say the Lord’s prayer and then lead the pledge to the flag to start our school day.  The country lost a staunch foundation of ethics, morality, God’s guidance.  I remember I had a couple teachers in High School who would not lead the opening of the day ritual, but they never refused to let any of us students volunteer to read a verse or lead the pledge.   My brothers and sisters were not as fortunate while they were coming up through the grades.  By then the Supreme Court said no to having Bible read in schools to start the day.  And soon, discipline went downhill.

Students began to rebel, not be respectful to authority, increased fighting at school.  A strong moral ethic began to quickly lapse.  Even our national leaders grew lax, and a lot more national scandals began to be reported in newspapers and on TV.  Church attendances began to decline, life was no longer as calm and easy as it once was.  Sometimes I long for those calmer, more respectful days.  I want my 3 grandchildren to know that sense of peace, happiness, family ties and friendships.

I recently read a great statement :

Either reading the Bible will keep you from sin.  Or sin will keep you from reading the Bible.      - Jonathan Cahn

Kate