Not too long ago, Tom Brokaw hosted a forum on violence in the neighborhood at the Harvard School of Public Health. There were six students on his panel, and he asked the panel if they had participated or had been hurt in a violent encounter or experienced a situation in which they thought they would die. All of them said yes to each question.

    Why? Well, one girl explained that girls join gangs because they want three things: protection, family life and love. All of those things should be provided in abundance by their parents, but the adults in their lives had abandoned them on all fronts.

    There’s hope though. When society won’t take care of its own, God’s people will. In His church, you have a protection, family life and love built-in!