Some troubling statistics about life in America were revealed in the Gospel Advocate July 1996 issue. One million teens are becoming pregnant out of wedlock each year. Since 1973, 34 million babies have been eliminated through abortion. The American family appears to be in jeopardy.

Research indicates that violent crime has increased 500 percent in the last 30 years. Additionally, government leaders and law enforcement officials are becoming alarmed at the growth of juvenile crime. The next 10 years are predicted to see a phenomenal rise in the rate of juvenile offenses. Many of these crimes committed by males, and increasingly by females, are related to gang activity, in which members seek to find identity and acceptance. All of these facts point to the home as the source of the breakdown within our society.

Many young people seem to be growing to adulthood without some fundamental needs being addressed in the home. Children routinely left to themselves never know the security of being loved, appreciated and protected.

The family, which is God’s plan for meeting all of these needs, is sometimes replaced by long hours in day care or, in some instances, by no care at all. Children are often called the latchkey generation. A great many children grow up in an environment where the ideal situation of a loving father and mother, siblings and extended family is found only in storybooks. Some people in society even applaud the fact that the traditional family is no longer the norm.

It is unfortunate that the term “dead-beat Dad” has become a common expression. However, the failures of society have created a generation that is hungering for what has been lost.

Christians belong to the greatest family in the world. The children of God have a great obligation to share the Good News. The world needs to become reacquainted with the Father who stands with open arms to embrace people who have never met Him.

Some people have experienced the void of never knowing their earthly father. However, countless more people experience a spiritual emptiness that results from being separated from the loving Father who gave them life.

Families have encountered problems since Adam and Eve left their beautiful Eden. Despite the failures of society, God’s great love and compassion toward mankind has prolonged time. Yet His grace will not last forever.

Peter reminded the church in 2 Peter 3:9 that “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (KJV).

To the spiritual orphans of society, the Father extends the invitation found in Revelation 22:17 “[L]et him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.”

[This article appeared in the July 1997 issue of Christian Woman magazine. It is used here by permission of the author.]

Janie Craun is a native of Nashville, TN. She and husband Karl, both graduates of David Lipscomb University, have been married thirty-five years and have two grown children and one grandchild.

Her teaching career has spanned the age spectrum. She is a retired elementary school teacher and also served as preschool director for the Walnut Street Church of Christ in Dickson, TN for eight years. She is a graduate of the Nashville School of Preaching and Biblical Studies where she now teaches classes for women.

Janie serves as office coordinator of an AGAPE counseling center in White Bluff, TN. She and Karl, an elder in the church there, are both involved in the teaching program. She is the author of one book—Heirlooms, Bible Keepsakes New and Old – and has written articles for Christian Bible Teacher, Ideashop, and Christian Woman as well as Bible study literature for Lambert Book House.

To order the book for $8.95 plus $2.00 S/H (CA residents add 7.75% sales tax) Heirlooms, Bible Keepsakes, Old and New, call Christian Courier Publications toll free at (888) 818-2463.