"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

Tonight is our local high school's graduation night. Several of DD's friend's older siblings are graduating, so it starts hitting home that in 4 short years, she will be too. Fortunately at the pool party yesterday, the couple of high school girls there were telling DD and friends that when they got to high school, most of the guys want sex, and that they would get offered drugs and alcohol. She told them to just say no. How awesome that they heard it from someone besides parents! She said it wouldn't make them uncool to say no; but actually the contrary, that it would just start a life of problems. (And I was one of the chaperones and heard none of this.) But I'm so thankful that this high schooler was willing to spend some time with the girls and tell them their advice. Too, some of the older cheerleaders had already been warning them to be very, very careful, that there are some nice guys, but most are just users...

Was thinking about the local kids tonight as they graduate from high school and head out into the cold, hard world out there. And, frankly, it's hard to be excited for them. Either they're headed to college where they will rack up huge student loans and STILL have a terrible time trying to find a job when they graduate or they are joining the unemployment lines looking for a job...

Wow. I wish I could be more positive about the future, but it just looks so bleak for America right now. It seems everywhere I go, everyone is fearful about what's going to happen and there is no security for anyone. My brother-in-law has been unemployed for a year now, and his grown son has been job searching for almost that long. It seems we're all trying to hang on, with the hopes that SOMEDAY things will return to at least close to what they were even 2 years ago. And we're in Texas where we have it better than almost all the other states...

For me personally, the only way I can deal with all of this, is to know that God promises to take care of His children, "For my God shall supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus." His word says that He will never forsake us. And that His children will not go hungry. I'm not sure how other people handle all this stress and worries, but then again I heard that alcohol consumption is way up, so I guess there's the industry that actually improves with bad news.

I don't know... How does anyone plan for the future in the state the country is in? One of my random thoughts today in thinking about the next election is that one of my litmus tests will be that the politicians I vote for are going to have to be okay with having the same healthcare as the rest of us - no more exempting themselves - ever. I don't like politicians. Aren't they at the bottom of the totem pole with used car salesmen and carny's? They become "above the law" like John Edwards, Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger - shall I go on?? Men with ambitious insatiable appetites while the rest of us have to stand idly by... Just wishing a person with the moral compass, high intelligence, and people skills could surface to lead us like Moses out of this "Egypt" to the promised land....

Let my people GO.