MY COMMITMENT TO AMERICA’S FUTURE
	As I thought about the topic, "My Commitment to America's Future" my first thoughts were, of course, to help with pollution, hunger, donations, etc. But then I stopped myself and really thought about the topic. I started to look back into the history of America and see how our daily lives have changed from then to now, and I realized that the only thing that I could do to commit myself to America is to share the truth of the Bible with everyone. If you think about it, back then people would go to school and learn to read, and write much the same as we do now.  However, all of their school work was Bible based. So in other words, people would go to school and learn the Bible, base their everyday lives on the Bible and its teachings about how to live rightly. It seems as though in school now a days, you don't see God in school, you see guns. I look now at society and see that most people do not live according to scripture and our society is slowly, sometimes more rapidly than slowly, going down hill. I have spoken with some of the elderly people that I know, and asked them what life was like when they were children. Suprisingly enough, they collectively contend that life was safer, people were happier, children respected their elders, and mostly they remember that they had a reverence for God. There are children now that don't even believe that God exists. I am afraid that we as a whole have taken advantage of the foundations that were laid by our forefathers. Unfortunately, I don't have as much faith in our future because we are not, as a country, focusing on the foundations that we, the people are laying for our generations to come. Foundations of respect for our elders, honor for our country and reverence for our Lord and Creator. We have a tendency to go about our lives with the expectation that all will be the way it is. That we don't have any responsibilities to our country, our fellow man, or even our own children. There are many children now that come from broken homes, if any home at all. Those who do have homes are largely dysfunctional. The Bible tells us not to rebuke our father's instructions and to listen to our mothers teachings. But if kids don't even know who their father is, then how can they listen to him. Morality has gone from women not being comfortable with showing their ankles in public to complete nudity on public television. A man knowing what his role as a husband and father was to entail, to them not even accepting that they are the father. Now you see very few married couples that have been together for more than 50 years, most couples are together for two. The get married, have kids, and divorce. Again you have a broken home. How many times on the news have you seen a headline, "Another serial killer has struck, again!" In the book of Exodus 20:13 one of the Ten Commandments is, 'You shall not commit murder.' Also, as I was speaking to my elders, they told stories about when they were young children and they would walk across the streets by themselves to get to the toy store. Now, parents have a hard time with letting their children go out and play in their own front yard without being supervised. People used to be so happy. Now you see more anger in people because we are greedy and want more, more, and more. People are not happy with what they already have. We all should be thankful for what we have and stop complaining or dreaming about what we don't have. As long as you have food, water, shelter, clothing, and Jesus Christ on your side, you need nothing else. For it also says in Romans: 8, 'If God is for us who can be against us?' I recently read a story about a wealthy father and his son. The father took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked the son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked. "Oh yeah" said the son. "So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father. The son answered, "I saw that we only have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. WE have servants to serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them." With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are." So although most of us don’t have much, we have all we need. So every chance I get I will share the truth of the word of God with everyone. As is says in Romans 14:11, ‘It is written, “As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” Also it says in Matthew 9:12, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”  In saying this, my commitment to America is to heal the sick, and teach the gospel to everyone. In hope that one day our Nation will be at peace with each other, and everyone will get along again. Maybe then our children’s children will be able to reap the benefits of their forefathers. That is my commitment to America’s future.       By Casi Anderson