Crescent Moon 2

Since publishing the previous post, I've been comparing in my mind the group of young people that was in attendance with the group that went to New Mexico. Bear with me, please.

In the mid-70's, right after the Viet Nam pullout & the '72 elections, things in our country were kind of crazy. As teenagers, we were watching America go through a liberalization process that affected an entire generation. Our group was average people that had watched much of this take shape and as such, we were very much normal kids of the time. Even the PB church was going through the phase of not encouraging the young people's interest so much, and not as much parental or pastoral care shown to keep the interest in the church. It was the late stages of "...if GOD wants the children in the church, He will put them there..." . Now this was not every where, nor was it stated right out, but it happens that we almost lost an entire generation.

Since then, pastors have been encouraging their flock to be bold about their kids. Parents have taken heart and have become more attentive to fellowshipping with others of like mind and creating and encouraging oppurtunities to fellowship. The young people themselves have encouraged each other to "...remain in the fold..." so to speak.

Our group in NM was an age group of around 16, give or take a year or two, and nearly all went to the same high school and were within one or two grades of each other and most of them from not very churchy families. The group downstairs ranged from 12 or so to nearly 20, middle school to college students, from Memphis, North Mississippi, B'ham and everyone seemed genuinely to enjoy the company of each other. All of them are regular church attendees and most, if not all, members of a congregation.

The NM group did the usual suspect things that mid-teens are usually suspected off...sneak out after curfew, try to sneak a smoke or beer, try to flirt with the pretty waitresses, etc...In being around most of the PB kids we know, while they like to stay up too late and talk too loud, the other issues haven't been observed. It may have happened but the general character weaknesses for that type of activity is not as prevalent seems like.

Parent involvement has to have been a factor. Most of the young people our kids are around, their parents are very much a part of the everyday lives, not just homeshooling, but genuinely involved. Most of the parents have chosen the mother to work at home ( a biblical pattern) and the father is regularly around. Their are very few single parent or remarried families but this doesn't have to be an excuse.

All of this just implies that we have been blessed by GOD to befriend and be introduced to families that love their kids, have encouraged them to know their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as a friend and to let Him reign in their heart. There are other families we know, trying to go in the same direction with varying degrees of success. Encouraging as this is, we must continue to battle complacency; continue praying for wisdom as parents and for our country and those in authority over us, for our churches and those ministering servants that attend to the flocks;

A Crescent Moon...

Recently, while a group of young people were downstairs playing games and such on a Saturday evening, I had retired to my upstairs chamber for the evening. After lighting a fragrance candle, I did some evening reading ( Bible, then a chapter of current book), then turned out the lamp to retire. It was then that I noticed out the window how early the moon was setting and that it was a crescent positioned like a boat. With the flickering of the candle, memories of a few evenings of my youth flooded back.
In 1973, a group of young men visited Philmont Scout ranch in NE New Mexico. The first part of the trip was spent backpacking on the ranch itself, during which we hiked and camped for 6 days covering about 85 miles. After a day and a half in base camp, we bussed to the Kit Carson Natl. Forest, and backpacked for a couple of hours up the trail and made an evening camp. The next morning, we continued up the trail, eventually crossing the tree line and continuing higher in elevation. We crossed two snow banks, which was odd in shorts. About lunch, we came to a small lake, shaped like a horseshoe (guess the name?) at about 11,000 ft elevation. This camp became home for 3 days, at the base of the highest point in New Mexico, Mt. Wheeler, elev. 13,000 +.
Evenings in this camp were spent beside flickering camp fires and instead of setting moon, we could enjoy the rising moon over the lower eastern peaks in this part of the Sangre De Cristo range of the southern Rockies. Days were spent trout fishing in the lake and hiking to the peak of Mt. Wheeler. Day time temperatures were an enjoyable high 60's / lo 70's, but evenings, with the wind chill, seemed to be near freezing. Even with our tent backed up to some low bushes for a wind break, it was hard to get enough clothes on to be comfortable in a light sleeping bag. The clear mountain air was thin, but we didn't seem to hardly notice.
Soon enough, we returned down the mountain and back to the ranch. The first evening back, we went to supper at a motel restaurant with a buffet in Raton. After 11 days of freeze dried backpack food, the fried chicken, roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. disappeared. We rested hard and then headed back to Alabama the next day.