In his book WHEN YOU’VE BEEN WRONGED (Moody), Erwin Lutzer tells this story:
“A young pastor began a ministry on Saturday mornings to the inmates of the local county jail. Each week he’d go into the jail cells and conduct Bible studies and prayer sessions among the inmates — mostly young white men who were doing time for anything from burglary to habitual drug use. As he’d enter the jail the despair and anger among these nineteen to twenty-four-year-olds was palpable.
“When the young pastor asked the warden how so many young men with great promise could end up in such a place, the warden sighed and said, ‘This place is filled with boys who got tired of waiting for their dads to keep their promises — promises to provide, promises to show up and spend time with them, promises to come home at night — they finally got so angry with the injustice of it, they went out and did stupid things.’
“Young men waiting for their dads to keep their promises! What a sobering reminder that broken promises can help send a young man down a road of personal destruction.”
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #22635]