Fringe Kids

Sorry it has been a while since I have written, trying to care for an adoptive child and working on a Doctoral paper will do that. I have to admit, there is much perplexing about life right now - much of which I will not bore you with. I do have to say that I want to "share" a burden, or an epiphony, if you will.

Early in my ministry years, I was with a para-church ministry that really went after the "fringe" kids - or at least that is what they claimed. It is not that I doubt that, but I think the strategy was to use the "popular kids", you know, the jocks, cheerleaders, Mr. & Mrs. Homecoming - you get the picture - to reach the "fringe kids". I have been thinking on this subject of fringe kids now for quite some time now and I have come to a few conclusions:

1. The kids who used to be the "fringe kids" are now the normal kids and the "normal kids" are now becoming the fringe kids. Here is what I mean. I hate to put this so bluntly, but our culture is so screwed up that it seems there are not more hurting kids in our culture than health kids. The healthy kids, since there are fewer of them, are now becoming the fringe kids and the hurting kids are becoming the norm.

2. Our culture continues to abandon kids. Kids are daily sacrificed on the altar of adult agendas. Schools teach to tests, not educate the child. While children are being taught to tests and not being taught how to think and process critically, they are also expected to have hihg academic performance. Sports become about winning at all costs or pursuing a coveted scholarship. Parents, coaches and officials fight on the fields in front of these kids. Popular media has become a pusher of goods in order to make a buck. Pharmaceutical companies are making BILLIONS on pushing drugs on our kids! Youth Ministries are pressured to "grow in numbers" in order to be considered "successful". (If not, there is obviously a failure on the part of the Youth Pastor.) Peers become survival tribes where more time is spent in your tribe then with your parents. Musicians push there message and music in the pursuit of bling.

3. Due to everything in #2, kids are developing multiple identities simply to cope. They present to so many different people who they think those other people want them to be. This is yet another expectation they have to keep up - and the pressure mounts.

4. We have become a narcissistic culture where the good name of a sporting institution is more important then reporting a known child sex-offender. (Did you not know that sports have become one of the many gods in our culture?) Church services better be over quick and the church better not schedule an opportunity to feed the poor if there is an "important football" game coming on - and after all, aren't they all important?

5. Kids are growing up without extended family, HEALTHY role-models and age-segregated churches. Kids are left to "figure out life" on their own. From the time they are two and in the stroller or car seat, they are "entertained" with portable DVD players in the car or whenever mom and dad "can't handle" dealing with their child right now.

These are but a few of the things going on that are causing the "fringe kids" to become the norm. God help us wake up before it is too late. The measure of how we are treating our kids now will the the measure of how they treat us - and then some - when we are old and need to rely on them to care for us. How's that gonna work out for us?