Parenting the Columbine Kids

The Harris and Klebold families seemed pretty normal. Neighbors said they were quiet families who celebrated Easter with their neighbors, mowed their lawns, and sat on bleachers on long summer nights watching Little League. The Klebolds sent their kids to Lutheran catechism.

Yet their sons, Eric and Dylan, gathered weapons and bombs and invaded their high school, killing or wounding 37 others before taking their own lives.

What happened at Columbine has reverberated across America. Back then everyone wondered, why didn’t the parents notice something? The dark music they listened to? The violent computer games they spent hour upon hour playing? Yet probably every teenager in this church has been exposed to influences like this.

Can we avoid that tragic outcome? Fortunately, teenage massacres are pretty rare. But how many of our kids will end up will end up faithless, enslaved to alcohol or drugs, or failures in relationships?

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Adapted from the sermon “B.I.B.L.E. Truths For Parents” by Rev. David O. Dykes; Discover Life Ministries; Tyler, Texas, May 23, 1999.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #8875]