Did I do the right thing?

I received a phone call on Saturday from a concerned Christian teen. She expressed to me that she had just received a text message from another teen she knows. The gist of the message she received was that her friend had been threatened by another teen and that this teen was afraid for their life.

I was so proud of this young lady that called me to let me know what was happening. She said "I didn't know what to do to help, but I knew that you would know what to do." That takes courage. In a world where teens are taught to mind their own business she got involved.

I was able to reach the threatened teen and determined where the threat had originated from. I was ensured by the threatened teen that he would seek help from the proper people if things got worse. He promised to do so.

On Saturday afternoon I was watching CNN and they were doing an interview with teens in Atlanta. They asked them if they would get involved in helping someone that was being beaten up, or was being gang raped. Surprisingly they all said that they would NOT try and help. The reason, because then they might get in trouble. They might then have a target on their back. That is so sad. So what is the solution if other teens do not want to get involved?

Might I suggest, that we need to get involved. When I say we, I mean the faith community. I mean concerned adults. I mean you and I.

I just finished watching another video that involved church leaders in Chicago. They made the statement that faith groups have a great responsibility to impact their communities, to help stop violence amongst teens. Amen to that!!

They were also asked why there was so much violence for teens these days. Many opinions were expressed. All were valid because you can't boil the problem down to a simple solution. They did all agree on one thing. All four men, muslim, catholic and two baptists agreed the biggest single reason for violence among teens is a disconnect from God. Did you catch that? A disconnect from God.

Brothers and sisters if we are to truly help teens deal with things that bother them in a positive way it involves helping them reconnect with God. You and I both know that schools will not allow for this. We as a faith community and an organization must be proactive in helping teens. It is our responsibility.

Back to the question the young girl asked, did she do the right thing? Absolutely 100% YES!!