By GARY ANDREWS
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Our greatest assets for the future are our today’s youth. We, as adults, have the responsibility to nurture and train our youth in values, morals, integrity, responsibility, ethics and optimism.
There is a Chinese Proverb that goes like this; “All the flowers of all the tomorrow’s are in the seeds of today.”
I am a product of the sixties and the hippie movement. I saw first-hand when the youth of the country starting rebelling against all authority and renouncing all they were ever taught. If it feels good do it! That was the saying of the day and most of the sixties youth participated in it.
Probably some of the problems we are experiencing today are because of the training the youth of the sixties have given their own teenagers of today. Times have changed. We as parents of today may have waited too late to realize that we don’t have the answer to every problem and that just possibly our parents were smarter that we thought.
A lot of problems in society today are because of our low morals, unethical values, lack of discipline, and no desire for what the future holds. Maybe our parents didn’t care enough to discipline us in the ways we needed it most. Remember what King Solomon told us in Proverbs 13:24; “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”
Now that we are parents and the adults trying to maintain a trouble free environment for our children, we wish that our younger years could have been more of listening and learning instead of rebelling and doing what felt good.
For me, I am an optimist. I don’t feel it is too late to pave a good road for a brighter future for the young people of America and the world. We need to bring our morals and ethics up to standard and then pass on to our children the idea of doing things right the first time. We need to act and talk positive. Let’s be more energetic about the future and teach them the values of what life should be about.
More optimism and good positive feedback is what our youth need. They need to feel good about themselves and the road they are travelling on. They need to have sense of direction and a destination that will provide them a safe comfort zone when they have achieved it. Let’s teach them the difference between right and wrong!
Even though we can’t correct the mistakes we have made in our past we can help someone younger than we are from making the same mistakes. It is up to us as to what the future holds for America and the entire world. The seeds that we are planting today determine how pretty and bright the flowers of tomorrow are going to be!
Prayer: Thank you Father for all you have allowed me to have. Help me seek your face in all that I do for without you I am nothing. Help me to be a good example for our youth today and to teach them about you and your Saving Grace. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – Exodus 32:17-35; Monday – Matthew 19:16-30; Tuesday – 2 Samuel 12:1-14; Wednesday – Psalm 20:6-8; Thursday – Ephesians 4:1-6; Friday – Philippians 1:3-6; Saturday – Proverbs 5:11-14.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals.com.

By GARY ANDREWS
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Have you ever driven your car down a street and realized it was a one-way street and you were going the wrong way? Several years ago I drove a group of high school children to New Orleans and got on a one-way street going the wrong way.
During this little adventure in New Orleans, and me not being familiar with the streets, found myself on some back streets that were poorly lit and not well signed. I had no idea I was going the wrong way and neither did the chaperones or students until we passed a one-way sign with the arrow pointing the other way.
Many of us in our daily routines of work and social life may not realize the direction that we are heading. Even though it may seem as if all is well in our life, we could be headed for a downfall and have no one there with us to lift us up. And, from another perspective, we may have people around us that are headed for destruction and we are not leading or helping them find the righteous track.
Doris Mortman once stated, “Unless you make peace with who you are, you will never be content with what you have.” The problem with many of us today is that we believe we are happy with the material possessions we have and would be much happier with things we do not have. With this in mind we push ourselves and the people around to achieve material possessions and not worry about their spiritual well-being or ours.
Many times we are so wrapped up about what we can own or have and never realize we are on a one-way street headed the wrong way. For us to stay focused on what is important we have to discipline ourselves. We have to understand what we accumulate on earth means nothing, however if we miss out on eternal life we have lost everything.
Please understand that I am for doing the best you can while you are on this earth but do it the best you can through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and be Spirit filled in all that you say or do.
Proverbs 12:3 tells us, “A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted.”
The Saving Grace of Jesus Christ is all that we will ever need while we walk these meaningless days on earth. If you do well while on earth and it’s through the grace of God, use you abundance and wealth for the kingdom of God. It is easy for us to get on a one-way street going the wrong way but realizing where we are headed with our life and what our destination is, will get us turned around and headed in the right direction.
Prayer: Lord lead me in the direction you want me to go. Help me get out of your way and allow you to touch others through my life. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday -1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Monday – Luke 3:7-17; Tuesday – Psalm 18:20-24; Wednesday – Philippians 3:12-16; Thursday – Deuteronomy 20:5-9; Friday – Leviticus 20:26; Saturday – Romans 16:17-20.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals.com.

By GARY ANDREWS
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Many years ago when I taught a course of Journalism in high school, I asked the students to do something they all despised. It was something out of the ordinary and really an article that made them think about their life and the direction it was headed in. Their assignment was to write their own obituary.
Many of the students came to me and said they didn’t know what to say. I told them to say something about what their life stood for, speak about their family, talk about their church and civic activities, and say something about their accomplishments and how their actions made life better for people around them.
These students did a good job and many of them told me how it made them think about the direction their life was headed. So many of us today don’t take the time and realize the direction our life is headed. All we want to do is what is good for the moment and don’t realize what the long term effect will be on us, our loved ones, or our friends and neighbors.
I often wonder if all English teachers in schools around the nation required every student to write their own obituary, what effect this would have on their future. Would it have changed the lives of some incarcerated drug addicts and dealers that watched the news media and thought that it was a life of glamour and money? I have to wonder if some of the teenage pregnancies would have been avoided.
What would some of our people say about abortion?
Maybe some of our government officials that voted to take God out of our schools would have a different outlook for our society. What would their friends and family say if in their obituary it read that they were the ones responsible for dispensing with Bible teachers and readings from our public systems?
Writing your own obituary is not an easy task. Take a few minutes and try it on your own and see what you come up with.
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for another day of life. I pray that I may be a witness for you in everything that I do and say. Lead me in the direction that is pleasing to you and let me get out of the way. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – Ecclesiastes 6:1-12; Monday – 1 Thessalonians 5:12-19; Tuesday – Deuteronomy 20:5-9; Wednesday – Proverbs 7:1-5; Thursday – Ephesians 5:15-21; Friday – John 12:42-43; Saturday – Psalm 139:1-18.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals. com.

By GARY ANDREWS
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

It is amazing at how people place signs along the road or maybe place two signs close together to get a totally different message from what are intended.
My wife and I, along with some friends, were travelling home from Branson, MO, when we stopped for some lunch. As we were leaving the restaurant I noticed a sign across the street that read “Dead End.” Of course we have seen this type sign many times in many places on streets that stop and are leading to no-where.
What really got my attention was a neon sign placed next to it that read, “Repent in the name of Jesus and be baptized.” This sign was sitting in an open field, not facing any building, or giving any directions on where to go for repentance but was next to the sign that read “Dead End.”
There are many people in the world today that are trying to get across the message that if you believe in Jesus and are baptized to show the world that you are leaving the old way behind and accepting the new way of letting the Holy Spirit lead your life, that you are headed in a dead end direction. This message is totally wrong!
When you repent of your sins and ask Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life then your life begins anew with the assurance that you will live with Jesus for eternity. Baptism in a God fearing, Bible based church, is to let the world know that you are a new person in Christ and that you belong to a fellowship of believers. The old world is not your lord and master anymore.
The world is full of agnostics, atheists, and unbelievers that will try and taint the salvation message of Jesus Christ. We see this in many outlets such as television, movie theaters, government, and yes, even to some degree in our churches. The world will stop at nothing to try and deceive you and your thoughts of eternal life and heaven.
It is my hope that the road sign and the neon sign was just a coincidence. As our group left the restaurant that day and we all looked at the signs we agreed that it could have been a message of deterrence for someone struggling to find happiness and peace within their life. For me, knowing Jesus is a life of contentment, happiness, and peace. For others, their message will be that following Jesus is a dead end street. Today’s society seems to be a repeat of what the priest-prophet Ezekiel went through in his time. In his old testament book chapter 33:10-11 tells us, “…Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live? Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.’ Turn, turn from your evil ways!...
Prayer: Thank you Lord for each day of life that you allow me to have. I pray that I can be witness for you and an example for someone struggling in their daily life. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – Revelation 2:20-22; Monday – Malachi 3:6-18; Tuesday – James 4:7-12; Wednesday – 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10; Thursday –Exodus 9:27-30; Friday – Romans 6:15-23; Saturday – Jeremiah 25:4-6.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals .com.