Into the world: God's guidelines for helping your kids impact today's culture.

The day is forever burned in my memory. A shooting had occurred in the cafeteria of my son's high school, just a few tables away from where he was casually eating his turkey sandwich. No one was seriously injured, but the whole community was shaken. But when I picked him up that day, my son climbed into the van and immediately grabbed my arm and pleaded, "Don't take me out of this school."

Every day, we parents come face to face with a culture that threatens the moral and physical safety of our children. We can't open a newspaper, turn on the news, or surf the Internet without being reminded of the dangerous world we live in. Yet the issues we deal with in our culture are really not so different from the issues parent have faced for generations.

Even parents in the Old Testament had to figure out how to help their children live in societies that didn't always honor their beliefs. In Genesis 27:46, we find a conversation between Rebekah and Isaac concerning the future of their son, Jacob. Rebekah says, "If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land ... my life will not be worth living." Even this godly woman feared the impact of a hostile culture on her son.

Things don't get much better in the New Testament. The writers of Romans 1:29-32 and 2 Peter 2:14-22 bemoan the standards of their times. Over and over, God's people are forced to stand up in a world full of danger, evil, and temptation.

Yet God seems to think we can handle it. Over and over, the Bible tells of God's people seeking …