Capital Prayer Alert -- 6/18/23

As you know, my wife, Carol, prepares a monthly prayer alert. I hope you will share Carol's thoughts with your friends and fellow worshipers. Thank you for taking an interest in her monthly devotion. -- Gary

Summer is upon us, and with it comes a different rhythm of life for many families. Gone are the very early wake-up calls, a rushed breakfast followed by carpool to a busy school day, and then an array of after school activities and homework conversations. Hopefully, somewhere carved in the hectic schedule is family time and some meals together.

Though the school year may be over, today’s families are seldom luxuriating in the lazy, hazy days of summers past. Young ones today have sports camps, sleepover camps, day camps aligned with their interests, Vacation Bible School, family vacations and a bit more time to pursue a hobby, read, redecorate a bedroom or just play outside with neighborhood friends.

Though life is still very busy, there is a mellower feel to the schedule and more time to catch your breath and just talk and laugh together.

A favorite summer pastime in our neighborhood is days at the local pool, marked by the structure of swim team practices on week days and meets on Saturday mornings. For many it is just for fun and friends.

But for others, summer swim team augments year-round indoor pool practices before or after school. For these young people, swim practice and meets is serious business, and their aim is to cut a few seconds off their personal best to qualify for Divisionals, Regionals, or State championships.

When I see neighborhood moms dropping their daughters off for practice, I can’t help but wonder what it must be like to be an excellent competitive swimmer with an eye on a Division I scholarship in the sport in which you excel.

And, yet now, hanging over that dream, is the very real threat that those elusive scholarships will be totally out of reach for even the very best of the best female swimmers because transgender swimmers (also known as boys) are now allowed to compete against these dedicated young women.

In what seems like the blink of an eye, our country has gone from curiosity about the LGBTQ movement, couched in the “live and let live” language of American individualism which sounded reasonable then, to a shocking realization that the rights of girls and women in competitive sports can and have been totally erased.

Fifty-one years ago this month, Title IX was enacted. This groundbreaking law assured women’s sports of equal funding at every college and university that received federal funding. Women’s rights groups hailed the new law, and female athletes were ecstatic as a new era of competitive sports was ushered in for women and girls.

Now the Biden Administration proposes to turn Title IX on its head to protect transgender athletes (men who pretend to be women) no matter the impact on the real women who are being forced to compete unfairly against an individual who was born a man.

Years of effort, early morning or late evening practices, weight training, sidelined friendships and a structured life that left little time for fun teenage pursuits will all be cast aside now as the “trans athletes” possess a major advantage. How is this fair? Why is this even happening? Where are the feminists who fought so hard for equality in sports funding?

As your summer days with kids or grandkids take on a different, more relaxed tempo, I encourage you to jumpstart a dialogue with the younger ones in your life about fairness in sports and life, and about what is right and what is truth.

Whether you engage them with a sports centric topic from the news of biological men defeating women in swimming or cycling or whether you just start a conversation about fairness in sports and life, summer provides us the opportunity to have such conversations and its likely they have heard something about these stories and have some opinions to share.

The good news is that recent polling (here and here) shows the country has heard a lot about this issue and adjacent issues in the field of education. And, the more that is learned, the more people are moving toward a more socially conservative direction. From the sports pages to the over-the-top trans movement’s efforts to expose young children to inappropriate sexually explicit material. parents and athletes are finding their voice.

There’s been a theme lately from progressive politicians to left-wing educators that the kids in your life, your kids and grandkids, are really their kids -- “all our children” -- and they get to decide what to teach them and what the field of competition -- be it pool, track or cycling course -- looks like no matter whether it is fair.

I suspect our kids and grandkids have their own thoughts on this and would welcome the chance to share their insights with an adult in their life who they love and respect.

Let’s give them the love, respect and space to do that!

Dear Lord, these are perilous times in which to raise the next generation. Tried and true standards and even common sense are being thrown to the wind and replaced with tortuous arguments devoid of basic truths to satisfy a political agenda.

Help us, Lord, to stay grounded in Your truth and equip us with wisdom and winsome conversation to shine a light for others to see and understand the obvious dangers inherent in efforts to placate a political agenda while undermining fairness and equality for women and girls.

Heavenly Father, open our eyes to conversational opportunities that come our way in our daily lives, particularly with the young ones in our sphere of influence. Thank you, Lord, for the slow awakening that seems to be happening. Open the eyes of many more parents and grandparents.

Dear Jesus, I ask you to hold close the teens among us who are often adrift in a confusing world without an anchor. Through the efforts and conversations of someone in their lives, be it a parent, sibling, coach, friend or neighbor, may they learn of Your love and forgiveness, and that Your standard is right and true and timeless. Amen.

Happy Father's Day!