On Childhood's End
Yesterday, while doing the dishes I wanted to listen to something a little more substantial than the usual Pandora stations I often put on (Edward Sharp & the Magnetic Zeros have done me well lately), and so I browsed through the different options I had available and settled on NPR's Youth Radio. Here I found a LOT of interesting snippets of things produced by, reflected on, and commentated about by, you guessed it, people within what we in GYFM are calling the 10/30 window, the unreached group of people between ten and thirty years of age. I had a great time listening through many of the different programs, all about 5 minutes long, and was struck by the broad spectrum of issues there are to explore within this meta-culture. Just searching for the word 'adolescent' on their webpage brought up dozens of articles coving literary engagement, teen weight-loss surgery, sleep deficits, transgender convictions, juvenile antidepressants, and even the rising use of cholesterol drugs in children. However, what struck me the most was that while often observed and solicited, those within the 10/30 window are only rarely engaged; while they yet need to be so very direly!
While it is truly all well and good to explore what their interests are, where their challenges lie, and how they process their experiences, who is there to work with or even mentore them? To challenge them in their personal and spiritual development? To walk with them through their pain, shout with them in their anger, and jump up and down with them in their joys and success? Listen to the show I've linked to below. How will you follow the call to "proclaim [God's] might to another generation, [his] power to all those to come" (Psalm 71:18)? Please pour your heart out in prayer for those who will, and already are, rising up behind us, and consider whether you might support Lindsey and I in the work we are doing in the 10/30 window with GYFM.
- Drew
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