Losing Focus

Dale Mason
Publisher

The grandkids were mine for the evening. It was time for Grandpa to take charge and make a memory. No problem. I know what kids really want. I pointed my car at the nearest fast-food restaurant and excitedly told them about kids’ meals and amazing indoor playgrounds!

The munchkins—ages nearly two and barely three—could hardly contain themselves as we entered the hallowed temple of multicolored tube mazes and corkscrew slides. Then I noticed the sign: “No children under four years old.” Well, whoever wrote that obviously had never met my amazing grandkids. (Besides, we had the place to ourselves. What could go wrong?)

At first, lively Elyse and her wide-eyed little brother Nathaniel just scampered around at the bottom of the curlicue slide. They were happy, and I smiled with pride as I sat down and powered up my laptop.

The next thing I knew, Elyse was way up at the top of the tube maze. A bit unnerved, I repeatedly called to her. Finally she heard me through the plastic walls and looked my way. I stopped worrying. Her little brother waved and laughed. This was too easy. I returned to my computer screen, and Nathaniel scampered back to the base of the slide.

Suddenly, I heard what sounded like two terrified cats overhead—and little Nathaniel was no longer playing at my feet! How he climbed the inside of that slide I didn’t know, but I had to do something fast.

To make an embarrassing story a bit less humiliating, suffice it to say that this grandfather shimmied up that curlicue slide in record time. When I emerged from the tube like a silkworm from a cocoon, my two grand-toddlers were shocked into silence. After a bit more drama, the three of us slid and shimmied down the way we’d come up, then quietly left the scene.

Sharing this story the next day, it struck me that when we lose focus on our responsibility to guide and protect the next generation, we put them at risk. That applies to both plastic playlands and the Christian faith. Ken Ham reveals the impact of our lost focus and its solution in the summary of his newest book, on page 64. Don’t miss it.

Dale T. Mason, Publisher

P.S. Have you been distracted from this important responsibility? Use this unique magazine to help keep you focused on turning the hearts of your children (and grandchildren) to the Lord (Luke 1:16–17)!

“Today the church is in crisis. God’s Word, starting in Genesis, is the foundation for every Christian’s belief. But most twentysomethings in our churches grew up being taught to rely on man’s beliefs instead. Now we see the fruit. Whenever young adults run into a conflict between the Bible and the culture’s moral or scientific views, they question what the Bible says. My timely article on page 64 explains what Christians can do before another generation is lost.”

Ken Ham President/CEO,
Answers in Genesis–USA

Ken Ham President/CEO,
Answers in Genesis–USA

“Today the church is in crisis. God’s Word, starting in Genesis, is the foundation for every Christian’s belief. But most twentysomethings in our churches grew up being taught to rely on man’s beliefs instead. Now we see the fruit. Whenever young adults run into a conflict between the Bible and the culture’s moral or scientific views, they question what the Bible says. My timely article on page 64 explains what Christians can do before another generation is lost.”