LOVE THEM, LEAD THEM AND GET OUT OF THEIR WAY!

Our children, we nurture and protect them as they grow. Somewhere around the middle of those teen years we help them get their license  and worry to death that they may not make it back home.  Then after a couple of years of venturing around the community they graduate and most leave home to begin their own adventures....and that's the way it should be.  But let me tell you a little about who is protecting us and the freedoms we all share here in the United States.  Many of our youth, now think about it, only two years after getting that license make a decision to join our military and defend our country and what we  believe in. Let me give you a few numbers. First terms in the military are typically four or six years, that puts the bulk of the troops in that 18-24 year range. In fact 60% of our military are under the age of 30, that's right. Today as you go in and out of  the stores, banks, businesses and your workplace just take notice of what percentage there is made up of people under 30. The average age of ALL United States military members is only 28.  These are the men and women who are fighting in our wars, maintaining the equipment needed to ensure our freedom, gathering the elusive "intelligence information" we hear about and every type of support job that you see in civilian life every day. No one is more important than the other. I spent 20 years there and have been that young person and had the fantastic opportunity of working with thousands of men and women in that age. Here is just a few adjectives that can describe those youth: strong, smart, eager, self motivated, caring, faithful, dedicated and teachable. Just imagine that at 19, your job for today is to take your tools to a $ 100 million dollar aircraft and change the engine, or repair the fuel lines, it's a little overwhelming when you think about it. How about if you're 18 and you are in an office where 8 people work that are tasked with ensuring that the pays checks are ready for a town of 5000, or if you at 20 had to get up each morning from a tent, put on 75 pounds of extra clothing and gear and patrol a country side looking for the bad guy. They do it EVERY day! Features in the blog will include some of he ones who have joined since I have been at my present church, Joe (yesterday's feature), Scott, William, Angie, Jessica, Michael, and the latest, Chris. ( if I missed anyone,I do apologize ...remember I am getting very old). I write this today to make the point that youth are NOT to be discounted. They are our future and in many cases our present. Love them, lead them and get out of their way because they are CAPABLE.