I have to admit that I , like most Minnesotan's were left with a heavy heart with the discovery that Jacob would not be coming home.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms,placed his hands on them and blessed them.Mark 10: 14-16

This past week has been a horrible week for all of us in Minnesota. The headline in the paper left us all with sullen and heavy hearts. For many of us, we lived with the daily reminders that there was a family missing their son Jacob. Most of us were 1/2 our ages when Jacob was abducted.

 There wasn't a day that didn't go by without reminders of Jacob on the backs of milk cartons and billboards. We all turned on our porch lights in hopes that Jacobs could use those to guide himself home. Most of us remember the 1991 World Series Champion Twins with their tribute to Jacob and the broadcaster's letting the world know that this 11-year-old boy had been abducted.  

So when the killer confessed to his evil deed, I immediately had this image in my mind of the Blue Angels flying their missing pilot routine; only this time that missing pilot was Jacob. I was crushed when I heard this tragic news as most MInnesotan's were. It didn't matter what racial background you were because most of us felt the pain of the Wetterling family as if we too had a son named Jacob missing from our table..

It is my opinion that the pain we are feeling  is the result of the loss of moral absolutes from our educational curriculum. When we are told that there is no right or wrong and everything is gray we begin losing our moral compass that guides our lives..

When we could no longer say a prayer in school, recite the pledge of the allegiance (one nation under God), and when the institution of the Church began losing favor in many homes, we began a slippery slope down the path with how we view sin. When we are told that wealth is the means  to happiness instead of learning to live within your means, we entertain the thought of  acquiring wealth through oftentimes illegal means. We justify embezzling from the employer because when that big payday comes in you will pay it back.

 Before the legalization of gambling, few legislators would have considered using gambling proceeds to offset state budgets. Yet, today legislators all across America are using this to fund pet projects back home. Today, some convenience stores make more money selling lotto tickets than they do with food products. God is losing relevance at a time that He should be more relevant. It comes out in the following ways: 

God is dead

There is no right or wrong

If it feels good do it

Who needs  the church?

Amassing wealth is the key to happiness

I don't need to confess my wrongs

I don't need to be involved in accountability groups

What I do is my own business

Instead of placing God on the throne of our life, we are placing ourselves on the throne of life We are worshipping, not the creator, but the created.

The consequence for this callous disregard of God is a lifetime of addiction. Because we are so concern with propping up our fragile self-esteem, we turn to  alcohol, drugs, and gambling to find relevance in our lives. 

Alcohol treatment programs popped up to teach people the 12 steps and the importance of having God in one's life to help you maintain sobriety.  But some people  objected,  so they rewrote those 12 steps and encourage people to worship whatever they wished to worship- a rock, a garden, or a doorknob; anything but  the moral absolutes.

When sin is allowed to run rampant sin it will eventually begin harming innocent people around us. You insist on smoking then many around you are harmd with your second harm smoke. You gamble and lose the house, your family loses the one place they call security. You do drugs and you open up your home to the dangers of drug gangs. You embezzle and you go to jail and your family suffers from the loss of your income.

God made us who we are. He made us for a purpose. One would not consider building an airplane without reading the step by step instructions, nor, for that matter, should we expect to understand God's purpose without reading God's word. 

When life is understood in the context of moral absolutes it is as though we have guard rails on both sides of us that keep us from making the wrong choices.. .The hole in our hearts is filled with the  good things God desires for us, not the slippery slope of sin that harms us in the long run.

As I watch the Wetterling family through this time of earthly suffering, I see a family who has never given up their faith. Instead, they created a foundation that has lead to new laws to assure the safety of future generations of children. Because of their efforts, we now have alerts on our Smartphones whenever a child is reported missing.

Just think of what this same faith would do for us if we decide to turn to God and consistently attend church regardless of how we might be feeling,or how we might be suffering?

 Is it possible that the temptation to gamble our life savings would disappear or the desire to get drunk would dissipate? 

 God truly has a wonderful plan for your life.