Standing Up for God

My parents made learning about God a top priority for me and my siblings.  We did not have a lot of money, however, my parents dedicated a large part of the family budget to sending us to a private elementary school.  It was not until I entered a public high school that I learned about the other teams in God's Kingdom.  It was a bit of a culture shock, after all, many of the people in my classes were the same people that called us names because we were "different". 

Some people from the other teams tried to convert me because they were afraid I was going to Hell.  They were really good at quoting Scripture and despite my upbringing, I did not have anything memorized like my new friends.  My hard head was such a challenge for them.  As I look back on my high school years, I realize that my problem with God was that I knew a lot about Him without really knowing Him.  There was not much of a relationship.

As I look at the generation that is to follow us, I see some teenagers who know Him much better than I did, even though I spent so much time in private school learning about Him.  I think the youth groups that are Christ-centered have helped our children to form a relationship with our Creator.

One day, my niece was praying in public school with her head bowed before eating her lunch.  The boy next to her asked what she was doing.  "I am thanking God for my food" she answered.  The boy shot back, "There is no God, we came from monkeys."  After a brief pause, my niece asked, "who made the monkeys?"  Unable to come up with a good rebuttal, the boy bowed his head in prayer before eating his lunch.

We are going to face situations and people where it would be easier to remain silent than to stand up for God.  For example, I just learned that a new coin is out, the first one in US history to be minted without the words, "In God We Trust".  The easy thing to do is quietly accept the coin.  Maybe, God is calling us to stand up for Him.

Will you join me in standing up for God?  It is going to take a majority to get this coin taken out of circulation.  Although a majority exists, most will remain oblivious to the missing words.  How many more places in our country is God going to get kicked out of because we fail to stand up?