Stubborn hope

I was leading a meeting of the vice presidents of our seminary, but I could think about only one thing—my teenagers. My wife and I had been up late the previous night having the “these are our values” talk with one of them. Again.

We have two fabulous sons who are doing well at navigating their way through adolescence. The talk the night before was not because our son had done something wrong, but because he was overwhelmed by the messages of his teenage culture that conflict with those of our family and church. This tears at his soul.

There were always good kids and dangerous kids in high school. Drugs and booze have been around forever. The back seats of cars have long been used for things other than carrying passengers. And this isn’t the first generation to feel pressure about getting into a good college. I get all of that. It has always been hard to be a teenager, but today there are new threats. Here are just a few of them.