My friend Darla led the prayer this morning on our staff conference call. Darla’s my hero because she’s been a youth minister for over twenty years. She’s just a really cool lady. She prayed something that really stuck with me: “God, lead us as we raise up this generation.” It’s all coming together…

I called Dad as I drove off from the studio. After thirty brave years as a teacher and principal, he’s retiring in the fall. He’s happily adopting his new role as a grandfather. I mean, he is ecstatic. He is like a madman.

This is the coffee shop I’d take him to when he and the family came out and visited my first year in Arizona. That was three years ago. They are playing oldies as I type this, and I am imagining when these songs were young. It’s been a long time.

I realize that Dad was not born as Dad. He was a child, a high school student, a young man in the Navy…then a father, and now a grandfather.; Old people were once young; young people will become old.

I keep thinking about this because I have worked with high school students for the past six years. My first group of freshman are now halfway through college. Their life goes on, but each year I face all the high school drama all over again. I have to deal with the media exploiting their hormones, their self-esteem, and their identity. I have to deal with senior guys going after the freshman girls. Drugs. Alcohol. Cutting. Suicide. Everyday.

Every generation has a responsibility to leave the world better than how they found it. It seems like our society is only getting worse. Please stop the violent music! Stop promoting drugs! Stop the pornography!