throw away kids

i have spent the last few days observing our judicial system at work.

seldom have i been so discouraged and hopeful at the same time.

kids are cycled in and out of the juvenile system like cattle. parents watch with confusion and anger. hurt and fear. sadness and hopelessness.

i have watched as kids are charged with beating their parents (14 years old), charged with theft, assault (13), drug possesion and dealing (15), aggrivated sex with a child under 12 (16), run aways, just to name a few.

families have lost their kids becasue of addiction, safety issues and pure meanness. one family lost their 2 kids to the state by default. just by not showing up for a hearing...they forfieted their kids like a team loses a game with out enough players. forfeit. you lose. time out. do not pass go.

in my heart their has come to rest a realization of a world most people does not know exists. kids of lower status that are fringe at best, but mostly unseen and un heard. the only noise that is heard is the siren.

a face has been put with the mindless crime that sweeps across our world each day. even in the debauchery that has come from this child and the anger towards him that rises up...i still see a child. a child who needs christ. needs love and needs to know that even in this...his life can matter.

it is so easy to sweep these under the rug. after a while, the pile would eventually wear down.

can we truly be followers of jesus if we only love the lovely? can we be true believers if all we choose to do is help the poor and not the criminal? how does one love the so easily hated becasue of crime? what does it mean to love a child who will not see the light of freedom untill his 22 birthday? even then, his father will most likely be dead.

the sadness that grips my heart and brings tears to my eyes is trumped by hope.

hope that the bride is here. as slow as she may be at times, she shows the way to life. as shallow as she can be, there is always a light on. as easily as she is prostituted out for acceptance, she is here. reflecting her groom.

as difficult as it is to look in this kids eyes and tell him there is an end to his suffering, i can look in his victims eyes and tell her there is hope...there is an end to suffering. because of her...the bride...becasue of the groom.

the paradox of this great love demands that their be a face to look into.

for with out a face to look into, with out eyes to peer into, disposable children become our justification for an ineffective faith.

what we do with the throw away kids reflects what we really think about jesus. how we show mercy to the least of these tells us a lot about what we really believe.

as uncomfortable as it is, a kid who is a sexual deviant is in need of salvation...no less or no more than me.

no one knows the life that is lived behind closed doors away from people...away from church...away from life...away from hope...away from the cross.

away from the cross.

even now i am trying to walk this line that has become so blurred.