Adolescence is a fascinating and crazy time of life. It reminds me in some ways of the very early space probes that blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. I remember my excitement when Col. John Glenn and the other astronauts embarked on their perilous journeys into space. It was a thrilling time to be an American.People who lived through those years will recall that a period of maximum danger occurred as each spacecraft was re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The flier inside was entirely dependent on the heat shield on the bottom of the capsule to protect him from temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If the craft descended at the wrong angle, the astronaut would be burned to cinders.
At that precise moment of anxiety, negative ions would accumulate around the capsule and prevent all communication with the earth for approximately seven minutes. The world waited breathlessly for news of the astronaut's safety. Presently, the reassuring voice of Chris Craft would break in to say, "This is Mission Control. We have made contact with Friendship Seven. Everything is A-okay. Splashdown is imminent." Cheers and prayers went up in restaurants, banks, airports and millions of homes across the country. Even Walter Cronkite seemed relieved.
The analogy to adolescence is not so difficult to recognize. After the training and preparation of childhood are over, a pubescent youngster marches out to the launching pad. His parents watch apprehensively as he climbs aboard a capsule called adolescence and waits for his rockets to fire. His father and mother wish they could go with him, but there is room for just one person in the spacecraft. Besides, nobody invited them. Without warning, the mighty rocket engines begin to roar and the "umbilical cord" falls away. "Liftoff! We have liftoff!" screams the boy's father.
Junior, who was a baby only yesterday, is on his way to the edge of the universe. A few weeks later...
Read More
-Dr. James Dobson, Focus on The Family
No comments:
Post a Comment