I read an article a day or two ago about the burning of a 15-year old boy. He was set on fire by five of his classmates ranging in age from 13-15. The young victim has 65% of his body burned – all over $40 owed for a video game. When Michael – the victim – didn’t pay up, the boy whom Michael owed the money tried to steal Michael’s dad’s $500 mountain bike. Michael’s father called the police and the theft was prevented.

Thinking Michael had “snitched him out” Bent (the boy who tried to steal the bike) and four of his friends decided they were justified in dousing Michael with rubbing alcohol and setting him on fire.

With 65% of his body burned, it’s questionable as to whether Michael will make it or not. When two of the main suspects were questioned about the attack – they laughed.

The mother of one of the main suspects had this to say, “They’re good kids, they have good grades, no problems in school. Wrong place, wrong people.”

Two things immediately caught my attention when reading this article – 1) the boys who are suspected of committing the heinous crime laughed. And 2) the mom said they are good kids. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/15/earlyshow/main5385653.shtml)

That the boys would laugh at this atrocity makes me question what their base of reality truly is. Are they living in a world of violent video games where the main goal is to kill, maim, injure, hurt… Are they lost in a haze of too many movies or TV shows and they do not understand the severity of what has taken place?

And I was shocked to hear the mom say, they are good kids. The truth of the matter is they are not good kids. Good kids do things like steal a pack of gum from the grocery store and apologize to the store owner the next day. Good kids do not set other kids on fire.

I honestly don’t know how something like this can take place – it’s beyond my scope of reference. What I do know is that children are facing greater dangers today than ever before. They face more challenges with drugs; broken families; absent or abusive parents; negative influences – TV, movies, video games...; a sense of not belonging; and an absence of Christ in their lives. Where does this problem begin? Does it begin with parents, environment, socio-cultural norms and expectations, peer influence? I don’t know. What I do know is that we are receiving a wake-up call.

Jesus said, let the children come to me. We too need to reclaim our children and direct them to Jesus. We need to teach them, to be active in their lives, to do simple things like read to them every day, take them to church, find out who their friends are, set positive and healthy guidelines and rules they must live with. These are things we should be doing with our children from a very young age. We cannot try to do this when they are of a teen age. The formative years of a child are when they are very young. This is when they learn what’s right and what’s wrong.

We must be active in our children’s life. Turn the TV off, stay home at night; be knowledgeable about our children’s friends and activities. Go to church with our children. Take part in Sunday school classes along with them. Spend time in the Bible – and maybe you have to learn together – but be there with them.

May God bless the hurting children in our world and may God move us to be more active in helping to heal them.