Response to Simon Sinek, by Aaron

As I watched the interview with Simon Sinek, I grabbed a scrap sheet of paper and began to write down multiple notes as he basically diagnosed the heart of a Millennial. Sinek broke down four characteristics of the Millennial generation including parenting, technology, impatience, and environment. All four of these characteristics in one way or another, really hit home for me. Luckily the Lord gave me God-fearing parents that have taught me the best they could. My father really pushed me to be a leader and showed me that Christ should be the center of my life and then being a husband/father should be my next priority. My mother taught me to always focus on the Lord, and follow the path He has laid for me. I can say that I do feel “pressure” to be the best father and husband in the world and to never do wrong. I want to shield my children from all the hard times that they are going to face, because I want them to have a care-free life. I want to be the perfect husband to my wife, and never argue. Then real life sets in, my flesh takes over and it seems I sin every day against my family. The only person that “perfect” belongs in a sentence with is Jesus. He gives me grace every day, as do my wife and son. I really took to heart what Simon was saying though in terms of the generation we as Millennials are raising as well. If the generation parenting the Millennials was messed up, then I have to think the generation the Millennials are raising is going to be jacked if leaders do not rise up. I am especially calling out the Father’s of my generation (including me). Technology and impatience for me were the two categories that really spoke to my spirit. I constantly have my cell phone on me at all times. My phone charges beside my bed (I have an alarm clock, yet I still use my phone as the alarm). When my wife and I go out on a date, we always take our phones with us. We make an effort not to be on our phones during our date, but Simon makes a great point that we would interact more if we left them at home. My wife and I will sometimes bury ourselves on our phones after work to relax, and our son is playing with his toys as we somewhat ignore him. What are we teaching him? How many hours of interaction have I lost with my child because of these distractions we call technology. I have a computer that is probably 6 or 7 years old. Before I watched the interview, I was yelling at my computer because it took a long time to load. In real time it probably took like 2 minutes or so to load everything. My wife and I were discussing buying a new computer, because we thought it was running slow. We are used to pages loading in less than 10 seconds. We were discussing getting Amazon Prime because of the two day shipping. We need that new shirt and that new DVD we bought as soon as possible. Yet, we have 50 other DVDs sitting on the shelf and a closet full of shirts. With so much of this amazing technology, it is easy to see why impatience has risen. The first part of the “love chapter (Corinthians 13: 4-8) says that “love is patient”. In scripture it says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). So let’s plug it all in; If God is the equivalent of love, and love is the equivalent of patience, then God obviously equals patience. If we as believers are to become more like the Father, than we need to start praying for our nation to become more patient. I feel as though technology is an idol in my life. “Father forgive me!” I think it is important to understand that the problem isn’t technology itself, because as I stated before technology is amazing. Think of all the lives that have been saved because of computers that allow us to view the body, such as an x-ray, CT scan, MRI. Think of all the medicine we have been able to create to fight off disease because of the microscopes we have invented (these are just two of thousands of examples). Cell phones are great, because they keep us all connected to each other and when emergencies occur, help is just a click away. We just have to understand that technology cannot be number one in our life. Jesus must be number one in our life. Unfortunately, my actions mosyt days of the week make it seem as though my phone is number one, my idol. It is going to take more than me just thinking I need to change. This is going to take prayer, accountability from my brothers, and making a conscious effort to put my family first. The Father is a jealous God, he will not share with technology or any other idol. My prayer for all who read this: “Lord, I pray for your Word to become alive in our hearts. I pray for parents today to understand the importance of Godly parenting. I pray that the millennial generation has a heart for you Father. Teach us all that being luke warm is unacceptable. You deserve our full attention Father. Teach us how to be more like you Father, so that we will become more patient. Give us courage Lord, to speak to our co-workers more about you. We want to learn how to love like you, Father. We cannot do any of this without Your help. Thank you for your grace. We love you! Amen”