And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Devotion Alert: The topic discussed in this devotion may not be suitable for youngsters. Parents, teachers, please screen the material before you share it with those who may not be ready for, or understand, the topic. Thanks, Pastor Klaus

Children are children and adults are adults. That's a pretty simple statement. We could follow it up with children, being children, expect adults to make adult decisions. Of course, if they do, there may be times that the youngsters will be disappointed in the weird choices adults end up making such as those being made right now in New York City.

There are 1.1 million students in the New York public school system. The cost for educating 1.1 million students is $24 billion annually.

You and I know education is costly. Still, for $24 billion, students and parents ought to expect the best.

Truth is some students in New York aren't getting the best; they are getting an experiment. Let me explain. New York is pretty drug intolerant. Students aren't allowed to bring even an aspirin to school, without a note from their parents. So far so good. But the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) has now decided it can hand out the morning-after pill to girls as young as 14 years old. And it can do this without parental permission or notifying parents of their action.

That's right. The school system which won't allow teens to drink a super-mega-big-gulp-soda-pop will be offering young women a drug, which will abort an unborn child: a drug which can contain up to 40 times the amount of estrogen contained in a birth-control pill!

I wonder if the NYCDOE board thought about what will happen if a teen has a negative reaction to the drug and ends up in the hospital. Worried family won't report the drug's use because they don't know.

I wonder if the NYCDOE board paid any attention to statistics that say in other countries where this drug has been given to the uneducated young there has been a rise in sexually-transmitted diseases and abortions? Apparently, believing you can "fix" a pregnancy translates into a hazardous lifestyle.

There is something wrong with this picture. In a world of political correctness, NYCDOE doesn't believe it is able to teach its students values, morals and ethics. This, of course, would help deal with teen pregnancy and many other problems. Instead, school bureaucrats have chosen to "solve" the problem through the administration of a pill.

They forget that in doing so they have taught a morality and an ethic. They teach that parents don't know what is best for their children. They teach that there is a quick-fix to major difficulties. They teach that the family is something to be worked around, rather than respected.

Yes, there is something wrong with this picture. At present the program described above is being tested at 13 New York schools. I pray the test fails badly, so the weirdness doesn't spread through the whole school system. Even more, I pray parents will step up to the plate and teach their children right from wrong and how to live according to God's will.

When Jesus was here, He picked the little children up in His arms and blessed them. More than that, He lived and died to forgive and rescue all of us, including New York's 1.1 million students. By the Holy Spirit's power, may these young people be given a faith, which appreciates and believes in the Redeemer. By God's grace may they know His love, which saves and wishes to embrace them. And by the Lord's intervention may they be kept from the clutches of bureaucrats, who think they know more than God and have more authority than a child's parents.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, save the young from well-intentioned -- but misdirected -- men and women who have no idea of Your path, Your way, Your grace and the salvation Jesus has won. Grant wisdom to parents, and to students a ready mind to tell right from wrong -- and the Savior from charlatans. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Zephaniah 1-3    Acts 24

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