Clean up time

"I can't go to the toilet at school!" Hilton remarked. I thought at first that he had a problem but he assured me that the toilets were in such a terrible state that they cannot be used! It's hard to believe that a school with so many sporting facilities and excellent staff and academic records do not pay attention to the most basic human needs.
When I questioned the vice-head about it he assured me that it actually is a problem - a huge problem and they do not know what to do about it. Two years ago a lot of money was spent on repairs, but the boys break the seats, the break the urinals and the towel rails off the wall, the mess the place up and have no respect for the facilities...and they issue is addressed from time to time at assembly.
"Why don't you give the boys toilet duty to clean the place up - then they will soon keep it in a decent order!" One of the mothers suggested.
"You don't know how parents will react to a suggestion like that!"
Well, perhaps the parents need to come and do the cleaning up after the mess their boys make at school! There should also be a maintenance team and procedure in place to keep it in order.

Why is it like that in public places? What is wrong with people? What is wrong with boys and girls - the one mother assured us it was just as bad at girl's schools!

The problem lies with our values: we are all easily taken up with the outward impressiveness of things, but the inner reality is often ignored...so the school will spend a lot of money to upgrade the entrance so that the first impression is good, but the toilets remain a problem.

Isn't this exactly what Jesus referred to when he rebuked the Pharisees for being so particular about the outside of a cup but inside it is filthy? Isn't this an indictment against humanity that pays so much attention to the appearance of things rather that the inner beauty and the things of the spirit?

Paul warned that terrible times would come in the latter days because of three reasons: people would be lovers of themselves, lovers of money and lovers of pleasure. As a resutl of these three priorities everything else would be sadly neglected! No wonder the preaching of the cross has once again become foolishness to most preachers - they have to preach motivational messages to tickle the ears of the people, to gather teachers to teach what people would like to hear, to satisfy the insatiable appetite of the human ego, instead of crudifying the self-life with Christ so that the life of Christ may be seen...

Dr. Roy M. Gray told me once at Miracle Valley Bible College in Arizona, where I went to study the bible, that a person's real character can be measured by how that person views the Cross of Jesus Christ...If such a great sacrifice does not move someone to respond with gratitude, what else would? People are basically ungrateful and can never get enough of what they want. But when we have crucified the flesh with its lusts, we step into another lifestyle of living for a higher purpose, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the establisment of His kingdom in the hearts of men, women and children.

Maybe it is time to clean up our act together with the effort the school will make to repair the toilets - but more than that , pehaps it is time to teach our children to be grateful again, by setting and example for them! Maybe it is time that people pray a prayer of thanksgiving at every meal to acknowledge the hand of God in providing for them in their basic needs. Maybe it is time to learn to give rather than to live to get. Maybe we need to pay our tithes to the church and tax to the governmnet and not find reasons not to do so. Maybe we need to appreciate each other again and make room for mistakes, but to learn from our mistakes...

Maybe prayer and meditation in the Bible should become priority in our homes again and replace the TV as the principle law giver and standard for our families. Maybe we ought to be thankful just for being alive today...It is a good thing to give thanks - that is the will of God.