i AM the Slavic Community

(This is a post I was stirred to write as I was reading comments in the Christian Slavic Ladies Group on Facebook.  This is geared TO those of us within the Slavic Community..)

I guess this is the culture where we are more prone to read Facebook posts and blogs than any other educational and inspiring reading material.  So this is a great platform for thought provoking discussions. 

One of the latest posts I read was a lot of venting about the SLAVIC COMMUNITY.   The closed, sin-keeping-a-secret, pushing girls to get married so young, keeping young people uneducated, truck driving, showing off in their Mercedes, etc., etc., 

I have had my years of being mad at the Slavic Community and all its dysfunction.  And you know what the real fact is?  I AM the Slavic Community.  And so are You!!

We are all contributing to the community one way or another.  And so if we want to see change – WE MUST CHANGE. 

You see that girls are being pushed to get married young?  So many of you state that you all got married young too.  (Sorry, but scientifically the brain continues to develop until Mid 20’s so anything under 25 is considered young, and rational thinking isn’t fully developed until then.)  But the question now is how are YOU going to raise YOUR DAUGHTERS and SONS?  Are YOU going to encourage them to get education, or continue to strive for the Slavic Culture Lifestyle, of truck driving, construction working, medical assisting, hygienists and not much more?  Are YOU going to continue the cultural pressure of marriage and the “sale rack” and “clearance” mentality? (someone stated a quote that if you are over 25 you are on the “sale rack” and if you are over 30 you are on “clearance”).  It starts with You, and Me.  WE need to humble ourselves first. 

You and me are the Generation IN THE WILDERNESS.  Our parents are part of the Exodus.  God has moved the people out of Slavery, and so it might take our community 40 years until the older generation dies out (sorry to say), but because they continue to look back at all that they had in ‘Egypt’, their traditions, their way of life, their enslaved thinking and their unwillingness to trust God in this journey to the new promised land.  We are in this transition.  This is all we know.  We see the problems in our community that stem from the previous generation.  But are we making it any easier for the next?  We have it easy.  Manna from heaven.  Our parents tried so very hard to give us what we did not have.  Gods blessings are evident daily in so much materialistic wealth that we possess. The community is filled with fancy car driving, constantly shopping, more and more things acquiring aspirations.  Oh yeah, and we build huge church buildings too.  We lack nothing.  We are so well taken care of that we do not even realize it.  This is all we have ever known, just like children of the wilderness.  But what about the NEXT GENERATION?  What legacy are we leaving them? 

God IS trying to get our attention.  The attention of OUR generation.  US in the wilderness.  We have so many young people dying in car accidents, drowning and overdosing.  The generational hidden sins are being revealed.  Sexual addictions, dysfunctions, abuse, perversion, to name a few.  We need to agree that WE NEED HELP.  We need to ask God to Search OUR hearts, and see if there is any hurtful way in ME (psalm 139:23).  We need to allow Jesus to come in and REMODEL our lives.  And let me tell you, that Carpenter!! He will!! He has been waiting.  He has been standing at the door and knocking!!  It is written to US, the believers.  It's the message To The Church  “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and REPENT, I stand at the door and knock.” (Revelation 3:20 Emphasis added)  Will YOU let Him in?  Will I?