It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced. Tom Brokaw

Pretty high praise coming from a newsman - but who was Tom Brokaw talking about? It was the generation that came of age during World War II. When you think of this group of men and women, and what they accomplished, it is nothing short of remarkable. Americans in the late 1930's and early 1940's considered the threat of evil men, heard the pleas of those who were suffering at the hands of these wicked people, and they answered the call.

During World War II, America sent it's young men across the Ocean to fight for the freedom of others. The women stayed behind and supplied the greatest war effort that has ever been. Those who lived during that era know of the sacrifices that we just read about. Mothers and fathers willingly sent their children into harm's way for what they knew to be a noble cause. Wives and husbands and sweethearts were separated. Children were raised without fathers for years. Some never saw their dads again. 

Stateside found the rationing of gas and food, rubber drives and scrap metal drives - you name it, and it probably was needed for the war effort. People coming out of the Great Depression took their life savings and bought War Bonds. Money that had been so precious was now gladly used in an effort to make sure that their boys had what they needed to do the job and come back home. Women went to work making planes and tanks and bullets and bombs. And the men? They paid with their blood and sweat and tears, and sometimes with their very lives. America was united.

What has happened to us?

It is time, dear people, for another great generation. Not to go to war, but to combat America's serious problems. We have been divided by men who thirst for power and money, because it benefits them to do so. If our generation does not wake up soon and begin the next great generation, then the America we know from history may become just that: History. The next great generation will start with you and with me and with our children. It will require sacrifice beyond what any of us have been willing to make for quite a number of years. It will require commitment, it will require a rediscovery of honor, it will require a renewal of love for our fellow man and, more than anything else, it will require a love for God.

Are we ready to become the next "great generation"? Here is what it will take:

Whoever wants to become great among you must become your servant.

Matthew 20:26, NIV