Yes, somebody, anybody - please Save Our Sons (SOS)! This is an urgent request and a perilous cry. I have heard it so many times, "We raise our daughters, but we LOVE our sons". Why do we love our sons so much...especially our black sons? Well, sometimes maybe it's because they don't have active fathers in their lives. Other times maybe it's because we didn't have active fathers in our OWN lives, so we overcompensate. We wonder why our sons have children before they turn 18-years-old or have multiple babies mommas. Well, what behavior did we allow? Did we allow them to "lay up" in our house with girls? We wonder why they flunk out of college. Did we prioritize sports over academics? We wonder why we have to bail them out of jail for a domestic violence charge. Did we witness them hitting their girlfriends, allow it, excuse it, and then say, "Well, she provoked him". We teach our sons to stand up to people, but we forget to teach them how not to be bullies and that carrying guns is really "not cool". When someone (uncles, cousins, friends, siblings, parents, neighbors, etc.) tried to tell us about our son's behavior, what did we do? Did we get mad at that person and then tell them off? Then when our sons are towering over us and begin to threaten us, what happened? The same person that tried to tell us about our son's behavior, we have to call to get them to threaten that same son who we made excuses for over and over again. Why do our sons turn to drug dealing? Sometimes it's because we've always
given them money instead of making them
earn it. Maybe we've never made them work an honest job because in the back of our minds we've thought (or heaven forbid we've said), "My son doesn't have to work". Some sons just go astray...because we didn't say ANYTHING when we saw the signs. Others, unfortunately, just do.
In the Bible, Hannah, who was barren early on, had a son named Samuel who she gave back to God. When she did so, her entire household was blessed and guess what? The Bible says, "And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord". How amazing is it that a woman who was barren would be so blessed because of how she raised her son...and honored God? Eli, the priest, had sons who were completely out of order - getting drunk, sleeping with various women, and defiling all that was holy. And Eli, the father, said NOTHING! God then questioned Eli's faithfulness. At the end of the story, Eli's entire household suffered because he stood by, watched, and made excuses for his sons.
Dr. Steve Perry embarked on a very strategic, purposeful journey in his television show, "Save My Son" on TV One. It's tough love at its best...maybe it looks a little mean at times. But it is radical! I've watched it a few times and thought,
Whoa! Even churches and communities are starting to take action.
We are in urgent times, folks. Our sons are populating prisons or dying in the streets everyday. It's time to consult the word of God, dish out some tough love, and SAVE OUR SONS!
Study link:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+2%3A12-36&version=NIV
Save My Son:
http://www.tvone.tv/shows/save-my-son.html
Prayer Walk:
http://www.wlextv.com/news/prayer-walk-in-lexington-held-to-stop-violence/
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