I was amazed this week
as I listened to an eight year old and a nine year
old talk intelligently about politics. They had
switched to the prayer station that was focusing on
the United States. My guess would be that one of the
boys started to pray for the election and that is
where the conversation began. I thought back to when
I was that age, did I know that much about politics
or what was happening in the world? I really don’t
think I did. One of the boys is homeschooled and
the other attends a public school. They both had the
same understanding about what the candidates stood
for and who they were. So they probably did not
learn all of this from school. Where are they
learning it?
The boys are both rooting for different candidates.
My thought process before the prayer time was we
will pray for the election next week. Our prayers
would be that people would vote based on Biblical
principles. I honestly assumed the kids would not
even realize there was a presidential election
happening. My eyes were opened. What this brought to
my mind is just how important it is to teach the
kids in our groups or classes about what is
happening in current events. They are learning it
somewhere. They need to learn it from a Biblical
worldview.
This generation is
a now generation. Kids have more access to
information than ever before. When breaking news
happens you hear it on the news, on the internet and
even through a text message on your phone. Internet
access is readily available in many places and all
you have to do is type something in a search and in
a matter of seconds you could have thousands of
links. When kids want to find information they have
easy access to what they are looking for and more.
How many kids turn
to parents, Sunday school teachers, or prayer
leaders for answers? We need to become the source
for their information. We shouldn’t shelter them
because if they have legitimate questions they have
heard some information from another source and most
likely that source will tell them anything they want
to know. We should share the facts and how they
relate to Biblical principles. Then we should teach
them how to pray for what is happening in the world.
The amazing thing is when we teach this kids become
world changers.
There are kids that want to become missionaries
or go to school to get a degree which will help them
live in a foreign country to help find answers
for the things they have learned about. Just
recently I learned about a young man who is planning
on using his college degree to work overseas so that
he will be able to help missionaries. Other
teenagers who have had this experience with prayer
training while they were younger are planning their
high school and further college plans around a
calling to start an AIDS orphanage in Africa.
Kids can change
the world but only if we allow them to understand
that a change needs to happen.
