IN THE FIGHT....

I have had the opportunity over the past couple of weeks to be in a high school classroom again. One of the things I have been deeply reminded of is how attacked youth are. A few examples -

One girl told us that her parents never loved each other. Seems her mother informed her that she, the mother, simply wanted to satisfy a fleshly desire and then got pregnant.
And can I say you can see the impact of those words all over this young lady.

One student has been in three schools in two years. Mom met a man on the Internet and moved from another country to marry him. Dad was killed when this student was very young.
And I suddenly understood why this student had SO MANY walls around for protection.

One has a father that works in the oil field and over the past year he had been home a total of approximately 30 days, non-consecutive.
And I understood why this one was so proud for being single for 3 whopping weeks and declared how he/she did not need a significant other while discussing who he/she was going out with next.

A group of young men whose vocabulary is extremely limited to four letter words about a three letter topic. Who, from what I could tell, have had a lot of money spent to keep them entertained.
And I understood why they tried so hard to be part of the group.

I spent time with a new teacher sharing what I had learned during my decade in the classroom. The thing that shocked her the most was when I told her for some kids she would be the most consistent adult in their life and that is a weighty responsibility.

I don't have a clever way to end this one. Just an encouragement to pray for these kids. Pray for the ones you see in the check out line. The ones you see in the fast food drive thru. Pray for your kids at church, because they walk around with a huge target on them. Let's get in the fight with them, and let's fight for them when they can't fight for themselves.