your fourth chapter

I'm sharing the following not for your comments but for your ownership.

Chapter One:

Today at the local library, I walked into our teen area and heard a conversation happening between a mom who was in it and a group of teens who were sitting around being sassy. One of the teens, a girl, was scrolling down her phone and telling everyone around her what she was seeing on Snapchat. She and her friends were apparently commenting on it, going into detail about how "crazy" it all was. "Look, there are two people in the shower together doing..." she'd share.

I'm not sure how long it had been happening, as the mom spoke up about 60 seconds after I walked in. "Come on, guys. There are kids up here." She was waiting on her 12-ish looking son, along with her 15-ish looking son. The girl sort of nodded and quieted down for just a bit before furthering her dialogue with slight tweaks.

The mom eventually left, and the girl then began mocking her. "comeonguystherearekidsuphere-hehehehe" she told her friends.

I had enough.

"I like how you waited until she left to mock her," I said walking over.

"Oh, well," the girl stammered.

"Really, that must take A LOT of courage."

"Well, I, uh... didn't want to make a big deal about it and cause a scene in the library."

"And yet you're doing it now that she's gone. Kind of seems hypocritical, huh?"

She blushed with silence. The boys around her buried their heads into their comics and phones.

I smiled. "No, don't worry if you don't have anything to say. I'm about to leave and so then you can talk about me, too. Have fun with that. I'm so glad we just got it all out on the table right now so we all know what you're really doing and choosing to be like right now. See ya."

End of Chapter One.
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Chapter Two:

I walked downstairs to check out my materials and noticed the mom and sons were getting ready to check out, too. She was flustered and trying to share with them how wrong it was. I don't know her or her boys, but could tell they were having an awkward teen moment of silence where they weren't sure if they agreed with her or not.

"Hi, can I tell you what happened after you left?" I asked.

She nodded, and I did.

"Thank you for sticking up for me," she offered after hearing me tell the story.

"Absolutely. I also mentioned something to the librarians." I looked at her boys and then back at her. "You know, you did the right thing. We should all stick up for what's right, right?"

She... and her boys... nodded.

End of Chapter Two.
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Chapter Three:

I shared the story at home with my family during dinner. My hope was that we might all realize we don't have to tolerate what's off in this world nor assume the weirdness has to become commonplace.

Whether we're drawing a line ourselves or highlighting a line someone else drew, we can be pointed in the right direction and help point others that way, too.

Because the real solution would be to reach out to that girl and those guys around her somehow and help them be transformed by God from the inside out. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to do that, which I regret. Sometimes all you can do is speak into the situation somehow as best as you know how. Maybe I was one leg in their journey... which is better than not being any leg and hiding out behind the stacks of books.

Perhaps next time I'll be one or two legs... or three or four.

End of Chapter Three.
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Chapter Four: 

(your turn - go live these values out where you live this week)
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14)