The 28th of October — three days from now — marks the tenth year of incarceration for my young friend Travis. His life was forever changed when the jury pronounced him “guilty.” He has no excuses. Travis knows that he made terrible choices that led to life-threatening drug addiction.
He remembers that day in court when the verdict was read. His mom reached for him, begging for one last hug but was denied by the U.S. Marshall who cuffed him and dragged him away. Travis describes himself as a scared little boy in a man’s body unable to grasp the reality of what was happening, yet conscious of frightful images. Where was he going? With whom would he be imprisoned? What would they do to him? Would he be raped, stabbed or killed?
Travis writes, “I began to plot in my head how to end it all . . . life was not worth living anymore. I thought of creative ways to use a bed sheet, or perhaps I could pick a fight and hopefully be killed in the process.” But God was with Travis. “The comfort I felt when I cried out to Him in one last ditch effort before I ended my life was so amazing. God really did put His arms around me and lifted me up.”
It would be easy to languish in prison, to let the depression win and the hopelessness take root. But there, in the most unlikely of places and under the Potter’s own hand, Travis has learned his true identity. The world calls him a criminal. A drug-abuser. A law-breaker. A bad boy. A misfit. But that is not how God identifies him. God calls Travis His son in Jesus Christ. A forgiven sinner. A person of value. A man with a future of hope.
Travis could remember October 28 as the end of his life. Instead, he remembers it as the beginning of new life. Before prison, Travis was captive to the lies. In prison, he was set free in the Truth. Before October 28, Travis had forgotten who he was. On October 28, The Father reminded his child, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).
It is in darkness that light shines brightest. Travis admits to struggling with fear, doubt, sadness, anger, and depression. But knowing who he is in Christ, Travis also knows he is being transformed. As a son of God in Christ, Travis has purpose.
You are . . . his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light . . . once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9).
Ezerwoman's Blog 
The Hopelessness of Separating Procreation from Sex
Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Citizenship, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Life issues, Relationships, tagged childless, extinction, family, future, humanity, Japan, love, marriage, procreation, relationships, sex, trends on October 28, 2013| 1 Comment »
Eric Metaxas from Breakpoint (10/28) brings something to Ezerwoman’s attention. Having been concerned about the separation of procreation from sex here in the American culture, I find the following worthy of our attention. Eric Metaxas writes:
Long-time BreakPoint listeners know about Japan’s catastrophically-low birthrates: by 2060, Japan’s population is projected to fall by a third, the same percentage killed by the Black Death in 14th-century Europe.
Japan’s demographic decline has spawned some creepy adaptations, such as lifelike talking dolls for elderly Japanese without grandchildren, or the borrowing of other people’s grandchildren for a day.
Attempts to encourage child-bearing through economic incentives have failed, as they have in other countries with low birth-rates. Younger Japanese aren’t interested in reproducing themselves.
And now, according to a recent article in the UK’s Guardian, they’re increasingly uninterested in sex, as well.
A 2011 survey found that 61 percent of unmarried men and 49 percent of unmarried women between 18 and 34 were not involved in any kind of relationship. Another survey found that a third of those under thirty had never dated.
As the Guardian puts it, “Japan’s under-40s won’t go forth and multiply out of duty, as postwar generations did.” Why? Part of the reason has to do with Japanese attitudes to women in the workforce. As one 32-year-old woman told the paper, “a woman’s chances of promotion in Japan stop dead as soon as she marries.” The assumption is that she’ll become pregnant and have to resign.
While that helps to explain why her generation isn’t having children or even getting married, it doesn’t explain the lack of interest in sex. And it certainly doesn’t explain why an increasing number of Japanese men aren’t interested in it either.
One 31-year-old man spoke for many of his peers when he said, “I find some of my female friends attractive but I’ve learned to live without sex. Emotional entanglements are too complicated . . . I can’t be bothered.”
“Can’t be bothered.” Or mendokusai in Japanese. (Didn’t think I could speak Japanese, did you? Well, I can’t.)
Most of the other possible factors the Guardian cites, including “the lack of a religious authority that ordains marriage and family,” are only partial explanations. Japan’s “precarious earthquake-prone ecology that engenders feelings of futility, and the high cost of living and raising children” don’t explain the increasing lack of interest in sex. But here’s something that does: it’s the lack of interest in having children. The assumption of the sexual revolution was that, having severed the link between sex and procreation, the result would be “better sex.”
Since the “urban pastimes” available to younger Japanese provide pleasure without the entanglements, sex can seem like a bad investment of time and energy. Mendokusai.
The Guardian calls Japan’s separation of love and sex “pragmatic.” But the evidence strongly suggests that there is nothing “pragmatic”—as in “dealing with things sensibly and realistically”—about that separation. We human beings simply aren’t wired that way.
In some important respects, the difference between Japan and us is one of degree, not kind. It remains to be seen if a generation of young Americans will one day replace “whatever” with “mendokusai.”
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