June 29 2017 – Click here to listen
I read an article this morning concerning the dramatic increase in teenagers seeking mental health counseling. It stated that rates of twenty-somethings who visited a university counselor doubled last year, with students reporting they are anxious, depressed and suicidal, according to researchers at Penn State University. Nearly 50 percent said they felt depressed, 45 percent were stressed, 26 percent confessed they had intentionally hurt themselves and 33 percent had considered suicide.
It went on to say that these feelings may be sparked by leaving home for the first time, increased academic pressure and having access to alcohol and drugs. Judith Green, director of counseling for Ramapo College in New Jersey, said millennials are more vulnerable to these stressors.
Hmmm . . . More vulnerable? It seems to me that kids have been leaving home to attend college since its inception, academic pressure has always been existent, and alcohol and drugs didn’t just arrive on the scene for these “20 – somethings.”
Could it be that these kids have been raised in an instant gratification self-indulgent environment by busy parents who spend little time with them? Have they been raised up to believe that they should love God first and second to love each other?
My friend Jack – Murf the Surf – Murphy just returned from the Ukraine where he traveled something like 3000 miles by van through that war-torn country to spread the word of God to prison inmates incarcerated there. He had been there 20 years earlier on a similar evangelistic mission and gave away a million copies of his translated book to inmates throughout the Soviet Union prison system. As far as anyone knows it is the only piece of literature that they ever received.
Twenty years later over 1000 former inmates who’d read his book are now pastors and asked him to come again. Many still had their books with them that they had read while in prison and asked him to sign them.
Imagine how this trip made this 80-year old former inmate feel to see the fruit of his labor matured and producing seeds of its own. He spent 25 years behind bars, found Christ through prison ministry, was miraculously released from prison by a parole board, and has been serving God every day since. Not only does he participate in prison ministry, but he collects food from grocery stores, warehouses and wherever he can find it and delivers it to feed the homeless in his community. He mows the yards of widows, participates in several prayer groups to pray for those in need of deliverance, preaches somewhere every week, develops training programs for inmates and those who minister to them, and so on. I could literally go on for an hour.
Could it be that these rich kids who struggle with depression, academic pressure, stress, and so on could take a few lessons from this ex-con about the meaning of life and what God really intended for us to do with our short time on this planet? I can assure you if this ex-criminal can arise to overcome his significant obstacles to do his part to help improve the world and make life easier for others, anyone can.
Jack may not be wealthy monetarily, but he is rich in love and folks the Word of God states that God is love. I would much rather be rich in love than have the fortune of Bill Gates and be devoid of it. Jack Murphy is Spirit filled and rich beyond imagination. BTW – He has raised his kids and grandkids to be successful, well adjusted, and loving. The self-righteous condemn and judge him for his criminal days, but the grace of God changed this man to love God and his neighbors. Thank Jesus for grace, mercy, and compassion and thank Jack for being obedient once he found Jesus.
I pray to God that our future generation and people of all ages will find the following verse and live by it. It truly is what these struggling millennials and the entire world needs. If you truly believe this verse you will do something for someone else with no thought of compensation for yourself. To do so is to say goodbye to stress, anxiety, depression, and hello to joy, peace, and the love of God.
Matt. 22:38
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ . . .