The Importance Of God's Security

This past week I received an e-mail entitled “Living in 2005” which said, “You know you’re living in 2005 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave. 2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years. 3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3. 4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you. 5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that

they don’t have e-mail addresses.

6. You go home after a long day at work and you still answer the phone in a business manner. 7. You make phone calls from home, and you accidentally dial "9" to get an outside line. 8. You’ve sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies. 10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o’clock news.

11. Your boss doesn’t have the ability to do your job. 12. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if

anyone is home. 13. Every commercial on television has a website at the bottom of the

screen. 14. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

15. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee. 16. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :) 17. You’re reading this and nodding and laughing. 18. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message. 19. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list. 20. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t a #9 on this list. AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.”

This past week I also heard an interesting statistic revealed by Rebecca Hagelin, mother of three, social commentator, and author of the new book "Home Invasion: Protecting Your Family in a Culture that’s Gone Stark Raving Mad.". In an interview this past Tuesday morning (April 12, 2005) on the “Fox and Friends” morning news program on the Fox News Channel, she indicated that a high percentage of both Republicans and Democrats believe that our nation’s culture has gotten out of control. (Hum… that’s interesting.)

I also heard this past week an elementary school parent tell about an e-mail her 5th grade son got from a girl that was quite disturbing. I asked her if it had come to his e-mail address and she said, “No, it had come to mine.”

This past fall, a survey was conducted in all three school districts of our county of 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders regarding drug and alcohol usage, factors which put these students at risk, factors that protect students, and expressions of anti-social behaviors, by a community initiative through Drug-Free Noble County called, “Communities That Care.” It is an interesting and, in places, a troubling report.

(A copy of the report is available and I encourage parents to review it.)

Let me share a couple of items from the survey:

The survey asked the students a series of questions regarding factors (or situations) that could create a higher risk to them to engage in what are called at-risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol usage as well as a variety of anti-social behaviors.

The risk factor that scored the highest (and risk factors with higher scores indicate a higher potential for problem behaviors) was called Community Disorganization. What this factor measured was the perception (and I emphasize perception) of the students’ “communities’ appearance and other external attributes” and also asked them to respond to the statement “I feel safe in my neighborhood.” 60% of those surveyed stated their belief that their communities are disorganized and are concerned about their safety. Regarding anti-social behaviors, nearly 13% of those surveyed indicated that they had “attacked some with the idea of seriously hurting them” at least once in the past 12 months.

Now there is some good news as well behind all of this disturbing news. Across our county, there was a strong belief in a moral order at 63% and in community opportunities for pro-social (or positive) involvement at 62%.

My point in sharing all of these things is this: Insecurity is very much a part of our lives today. There is a strong desire and need to feel secure because there are many things that challenge our sense of security. There are also many things that we “use” to gain the security of happiness and acceptance.

Things such as drugs and alcohol, believing media messages about body image and what a good body image is and isn’t, and a need to be loved that causes us to seek such love in places such as internet chat rooms and in other ways.