Heart for a city

(The following is TRUE and in no way meant to be obscene)

I'm not sure my heart broke more for our city more than it did on Tuesday. I had met my wife and family at the mall for lunch at Sabarro's Pizza. While we were eating I noticed four teenagers who were just hanging out in the atrium in front of Dillards. I had a direct view of them. They looked to be typical teenagers. 3 girls, one boy. They were probably 15 - 16 years old. What happened next made me so angry I felt the boy needed to be punched, and at the same time my heart BROKE for them. The boy was trying to flick the teenage girl on her breasts. He then proceeded to try and fondle her on her rear end and breasts. The whole time THE GIRL WAS LAUGHING! I wanted SO BADLY to go tell her "Don't let him do this to you. Don't give your heart, your body to someone who will treat you like this." Maybe I should have, I don't know. This continued with excessive pda for a while. Then I noticed the two other girls. One put her hand on the others buttocks and they too were showing some pretty obvious pda. TWO GIRLS! I looked at my wife and said "THEY are the reason we are doing our Satan's Sex Ed series." My heart ached for those girls who thought they needed to be like that to be loved. "YOU ARE GODS PRECIOUS CREATION" I wanted to yell. My heart ached for that young man who felt he needed to get to her body in order to be satisfied, to "BE A MAN". I thought of my own kids and prayed over them silently while sitting there. I don't want my beautiful Mariah, Makalah or Jaydah to fall for Satans lies that they have to give their bodies to a man to experience love. I hope that I as a father can teach them what REAL beauty is. What REAL love is. How a man SHOULD treat a woman. I don't want my girls to SETTLE for ANYONE. I pray each day that God will bring them a REAL MAN to provide for them and support them. I don't want passionate Jonah to take his passion and use it toward women. Jonah's passion is a GOD GIVEN TOOL that if channeled with the Spirit can change the world. I don't want him to fall for Satans lies that in order to be a real man you need certain physical pleasures, whether self induced through fantasy, or by receiving it from someone else. I want Jonah to be a REAL MAN who will treat women with the respect they deserve and treat HIS body with the purity it needs. WOW, I am getting pumped for our next series. Our culture is literally DROWNING in it.

To close: My heart was reminded to what Jesus must have felt like. Reminded of His words when he came into Jerusalem and began to weep. "How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace." I wanted those kids to know that. And "“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me." Those CHILDREN need to be gathered. This next series is HUGE for where we are at as families today in America. My heart breaks for this city. For it's children, teens, single adults and married couples. God has HUGE things for us if we'll follow.

Following Christ,

Jeff