We all need to realize the significance of the younger years of life. They are the foundation for the rest of every person’s life- for your children’s lives, for your grandchildren and for the children you influence. The years from birth to eighteen years of age are vital in so many ways. It is critical for the foundation of our health, our awareness of the things around us and our relationship to them, for our education, as well as for our relationship with our Creator. Our early years can help us or hinder us on correctly answering the deep questions of our existence here on earth. Satan understands this very well, as did Hitler and every other radical dictator in history. The liberals and progressives that have taken the education system hostage understand this as well, and that is why we are graduating so many young adults who are delusional in their thinking in regards to socialism being better than free enterprise. I am thankful for any student that filters what they learn through the grid of God’s truth recorded in Scripture. I am also thankful for every teacher that seeks to honor God in their teaching of curriculum to students. We need more believers in the leadership of public arenas in education, business, community organizations, and politics. We need missionaries being a voice of truth in these and many other fields where God has been marginalized and truth has been seen as relevant rather than absolute, as subjective and not objective. Most people who get saved are reached with the Gospel before the age of eighteen. Sadly, if they are not, then the world has a strong hold on them by that time. We need to pray for educators and students alike. We need to let them know we are praying for them and encourage them in the right things. I have met with many educators in the past few weeks, and I was encouraged to find several who were conservative and even one who was a believer in Jesus Christ. They all were thankful to know that we were praying for them in their role in our communities. As we pray for our school teachers and students today, I want to beg of you not to let this be your last occasion to pray for them in the coming months of the academic year ahead. I want to encourage you to be involved in the process. Be willing to serve as a reading buddy. Run for a position on the school board in your district. Take part in a school prayer group or Bible club that we are currently hosting or begin a new one in a school we are not in yet. Please pray for the new ABC ministry, After-school Bible Club, beginning on September 13 at Stella Mayfield Elementary School in Elgin on Tuesdays.