We need to pray

 I've had a pretty busy week, as I did my regular services last Sunday, taught Sunday night and had a wonderful baptism, taught my leadership class on Monday night, and then did my Wednesday night study. On Thursday, I went to the Twin Peaks conference center and taught two studies for Calvary Chapel Murrieta's family camp. All in all, it was a great week of ministry. We also had a week of vacation bible school, with hundreds of kids and volunteers involved from Monday to Friday, so our church was a beehive of activity. I am so blessed when I see so many kids on campus, especially knowing that the future of this great nation is going to be greatly impacted by our children. May the Lord bless them with a love for Him, and a heart to know and serve Him with all of their strength. May He strengthen our marriages and families, and may we come to understand the value of marriage and family. At the family camp, I was sharing that, according to one study, atheists have a stronger commitment to marriage than believers. There was a major study released in '02 by the Barna Research group that revealed that professing Christians have a least moderately higher divorce rates than the general population, including atheists and agnostics. 27% of those describing themselves as born-again believes are currently or have previously been divorced, compared to 24% of the general population. The rate, by contrast, among atheists and agnostics, was only 21%. With all the talk about concern for marriage, and the concern over "gay marriages", it seems sad to me that on the one hand, we evangelical Christians trumpet the sacredness of marriage, but apparently don't value it that much as a group. Homosexual Representative Barney Frank once said "They're saying that my ability to marry another man somehow jeopardizes heterosexual marriage. Then they go out and cheat on their wives. That doesn't jeopardize heterosexual marriage?" I truly have a great concern for the institution of marriage, and because of this believe it is time for our church to pray, and we are going to do so as a church on Sept 19th. I would encourage you, if you are able, to join us as we pray. If you can come to church that night, that would be great. If you can't join us physically, please pray in agreement with us. We need to seek the Lord for marriages, and our families, not to mention this nation's families. God help us all to see the value of our covenants with our spouses, and God help us as we seek Him for help in this time of need!