"We All Need Guidance in Life"

I heard on CNN today Pastor Marvin Winans of Detroit being interviewed about the life of Bobbi Kristina Houston, daughter of the late Whitney Houston. He recalled a time when Whitney first brought Bobbi Kiristina as a young girl to his church. She was at that time what we would call an undisciplined "privileged child" and during that visit Pastor Winans spoke of how he disciplined her and reigned in her behavior. Then he spoke to her mother, Whitney, about the importance of being a strong role model for her daughter. One wonders after daughter, Bobbi, followed her mother to a similar death, whether good mentoring happened in the Houston/Brown household.

How important it is for individuals to have good role models in parents, grandparents, and friends. Certainly the church is filled with opportunities for mentoring. In the Lutheran Church we have long incorporated mentoring into our confirmation program at the most vulnerable time in the lives of children, 13 to 15, as we have provided guides for the youth. I have seen the significance of that relationship in times of tragedy as youth lost parents, as well as in times of youth making choices such as drugs, sex, gangs, etc. The non-parent mentor has an influence on the life of a youth that many times exceeds that of their parent(s).

Many of the problems in our society today result from the uprootedness from the larger nuclear family. Some of this uprootedness has come from the movement of family members across the country and world. Certainly families may be more challenged by not seeing the larger family on more than two or three holiday/vacation occasions during the year. Still, with our modern media, we can connect to one another on a regular basis. If we have nephews or nieces, grandchildren, and friends who live away from us, why not try to stay connected to them? Our connection may be what is needed for a young person to get through the "hard patches" of their lives.

It is more important today than ever that we are not private about our values and what we expect from those who are coming after us. There are so many influences in our society that invade the lives of young people. These influences, though having potential for usefulness, often have a greater potential to shape the lives of younger people than we do. What if we shared what is important to us on our social media page or communication. What if we Skyped or Face-to-Faced those we could mentor. Just maybe we could shape a life.

We do all need guidance in life. None of us got to where we are and to what we believe on our own. We had parents, teachers, pastors, relatives, and friends who helped to mentor us along the way. Should we not pass on that which we have come to value to others? If people of faith today are to make an impact in the world it will be through saturation-- by one by one sharing of the faith. Let's get started today!