Teenage boys

My son is a teenager...he just turned 13 this past March. He's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he isn't like your 'typical' teenage boy either. He loves the Lord with his heart and desires to follow Him all the days of his life. We, as his parents, are trying our best to raise him how God wants us to raise him. The Bible says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Prov. 22:6

We have a few teen boys in our neighborhood that really drive me nuts. I don't know where their parents are, but they obviously don't watch their kids, or don't care where they are or what they're doing. Recently there have been quite a few headlines around here about teens who have died...mostly from doing things that just aren't wise. They have died from doing stupid things that easily could have been prevented. Reckless driving, underage drinking, drugs etc. Peer pressure has always been around, but I honestly feel that it's gotten worse!

One of the boys in our neighborhood lives just a couple houses down the street from us. Just tonight when we were driving home from a meeting at church, he and 2 of his friends were outside. It was after 9pm and it was dark outside. All 3 kids decide to run into the street and scream at our van as we drove past their house, almost as if to test us and say "go ahead, I dare you to hit me!" They were screaming obscenities and laughing...that is, until I stopped the van dead in the middle of the road. The 2 boys who don't live here ran away. The neighbor ran into his garage. He knew I caught him and he was embarrassed to know it was his neighbor who they were harassing. Those 3 boys have also been ringing doorbells and have been destructive in the neighborhood the past few weeks. I just think it's sad. Where are the parents?!? They are definitely home...but they don't care. Our neighborhood is in the suburbs and is safe...so we think. You just never know what kind of neighbors you'll end up with. We were here before that family moved in, so we didn't have much of a choice. Hopefully it all has ended there, and the fact that we 'caught' them off-guard was enough to put a stop to their foolishness.

When I see kids acting like that, I thank the Lord for allowing me to grow up in a Christian home. I am also thankful that He blessed me with a wonderful Christian husband and 2 beautiful children that we can raise together to have morals and values that are pleasing to Christ. I'm grateful that my own children (especially my teenage son) are strong enough to not want to hang around kids like that, or even consider acting like they do!

I Thes. 5:21 says "Test everything; hold fast what is good." This is one thing we teach to our children. Choose friends wisely, do not hang around with those who bring you down, but spend time in prayer for them since they are in desperate need of it!