Did you know that it's possible to make an apple into a bong? Or that you can cook meth in a 2L bottle? Or that you can buy (on-line) what looks like a Bible, except with the inside hollowed out as a safe place to hide your stash?
Listen. I get that plenty of folks...especially young people...engage in all kinds of dangerous behavior. And I understand that there are lots of creative ways to cover-up what's going on. Believe it or not, I was once young myself...and did plenty of stupid stuff. But with the advent of internet information sharing and social media, the stakes seem to have gotten a lot higher than when I was a kid. All the while, the society in which we live seems to glorify things that aren't just illegal, but things that could kill you. And too many "responsible" folks turn away...just not wanting or just not ready to acknowledge the problems.
This is not a harangue about how terrible things are. This is a plea for change.
Dear young people (and I'm talking chiefly, but not exclusively, to the ones who claim Grace as their spiritual home): don't fall for it. There are better, healthier, more beautiful things to do than risk your life for the thrill of cool or a momentary high.
Dear parents: when was the last time you had a good conversation with your kid in their room...or told them you loved them...or held hands and gave thanks to God over the dinner table? BTW...how's your own moral decision-making? What do you need help with? Are you willing to get it?
Dear community: who says we have to put up with the continuous assault on decency, civility and a good social mores? Sure...no place will be perfect. But it is possible to decide that this will be a community that treasures and encourages the raising of healthy children. And it is possible to be better than we are.
At least for Christians, we need not give into the despair of the age. We know another story...the rising of life out of death. And by the grace of God, we are given each new day to live out that resurrection...a chance to make better choices, to love more deeply those around us, and to respond to the wider world with a message of hope and joy that is the best preventative medicine of all.
Perhaps this is our call...to be life in the midst of a culture of death. Are you ready for that?
