I Walk Among the Fallen

This world is full of fallen people.  Each and every one.  Some realizing it.  Others seeing it about "them" but not themselves. Others running from the knowledge.  None able to lift themselves.  All hurting.  Struggling.  Looking to be loved.  Treasured. 
Today a kid that's a recent graduate of an at risk teen program that my near nephew also graduated from, was shot four times.  The circumstances of what he was doing are unclear to me.  Yet, there's a good chance that he had returned to some of his previous behavior.  And, we all do that as we are growing.  Step forward, fall a little.  Push further forward....a little at a time.  The problem with these kids and the choices that they are making is that they are putting themselves in life or death situations from a very early age.  They are testing fate...literally.  But, sometimes, they are reached.  Sometimes, they make a change.  Sometimes, they figure out that people care.  That God cares.  But, even though they figure it out..even though they get a grip on God and He gets a grip on them, sometimes they stumble, fall or run headlong back to what they once knew. 
And that breaks my heart.  Not because they are evil or worse than any of the rest of us.  Simply because they make themselves vulnerable again to death, jail, or even being handicapped.  They open a door again to a world that will destroy them if given the opportunity.  And, what is scary is that I believe that because they do belong to God....there are those who want to do them harm more than they would if they didn't belong to God.
Some think it incongruous that a person can drink or do drugs or smoke or dance :) or have sex before marriage and still be known by God...and beloved.  I suggest a closer look at the scriptures.  It seems incongruous to me that people who know God don't know the possibility of evil within themselves.  How can they accept how great the forgiveness is if they never know how deep and dark their hearts can be?  That except for His grace, any amount of evil is possible. 
These kids.  Scare the fire out of this mama.  Running so hard and so fast to grow up and make their own decisions and not be told what to do.  Rebellious.  Some angry.  Most...feel alone.  Scared.  Doing everything they can to look the opposite.  Confident. Arrogant.  Sure.   And yet, such....children.  Needing love.  Father's love.  Love that permeates their souls.  Not just when they are doing well.  Not about their actions.  About who they are.
They can be gone so fast.  Because though they believe they are invincible, we adults know better.  They can be taken in one instant.  One decision.  One mistake.  One being in the wrong place. 
They need love.  They need people who care enough to say that some things are not ok.  Yes, discipline.  Not meanness.  But truth.  In love.  Concern.  Question asking.  They need adults not to be afraid of them.  Unnerved by them.  They are CHILDREN.  They need us.  Hard to believe it...they need us who are also among the fallen.  The ones who struggle.  Who have to face temptations and sin just as the kids do.  But maybe with a little more wisdom.  A little more thankfulness for knowing how we have been carried.  Perhaps we could show a little more compassion.  And hold a high standard.  Not by our words.  But by our own lives.  By our own depth of love.  By our own willingness to sacrifice. 
If I want to reach anyone in my life, I have to remember that I walk among them.  Just one of the fallen.  Who happened to be picked up.  Seems like it should make me want to pick up others.  Seems like many of the people I have met would rather just gloat that they were picked up and the others weren't.  No wonder kids don't want to grow up to be like us. 
grace to you.