Dear Asher,
A very happy 2nd birthday to you.
The world was very different when I was two years old.
The year was 1960 and the craziness of what many people consider the most tumultuous and divisive decade in history had not yet kicked in. The world, and our country in particular, would look very different by the time 1970 rolled around.
The history books will tell you as much as you want to know about some of the significant events of the ’60s: The Cuban Missile Crisis. The assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. The assassination of Martin Luther King. The Civil Rights Movement. Vietnam. The Apollo 11 landing on the moon. The Beatles. Woodstock. Helter Skelter. The Black Panthers. Etc.
But what the history books will make little mention of was probably the two single most influential decisions that have been made in the life of our country that are still having far reaching and disastrous effects. In June of 1962 the Supreme Court voted to remove prayer from our public schools and they followed that up in 1963 with a mandate to ban Bible reading.
These two decisions effectively set the tone for the morality of our country for the last 50+ years. We have been in a downward moral spiral ever since and it is only going to get worse.
So here is what I want to say to you about that.
The Supreme Court can keep public schools from having institutional prayer and Bible reading but it can’t keep you from praying and reading your Bible. Prayer and Scripture are two of the things that God has given us as believers to help us stay close to Him. When you stop doing these two things you will inevitably move away from Him – just as our country continues to do. If you want to maintain your moral compass in a world where that compass no longer exists then read, ponder, and abide in God’s Word and spend time talking with (not to) your Father in Heaven.
May the Lord fuel you with an ever increasing desire to know Him better.
Never forget that you are very loved!
Pop Pop
