The Ending I’m Not Ready to Reveal

Posted on June 25, 2026 by Douglas Blaine
Daily writing prompt
If you could change the ending of any book, which one would it be?
View all responses

I don’t know that I have a specific book ending I would change. I’m not exactly the Dewey Decimal System of literary conclusions. I’ve read plenty of books where I loved the journey more than the destination, but I’m not sure I’d have the nerve to walk up to a great author and say, “Here, let me fix that for you.”

But I do think about endings.

One of my favorite authors is Stephen King, and even King has been criticized for his endings. I’ve heard people say he doesn’t always end his books so much as he just stops writing. I don’t know if that’s fair. When a writer creates worlds that big, characters that alive, and nightmares that linger for decades, maybe no ending can carry the full weight of everything that came before it.

Still, there’s something oddly encouraging about that to me.

Stephen King is on my Mount Rushmore of living American authors. I’m not pretending to be anywhere near his level. But if even Stephen King can have an area where readers sometimes say, “That wasn’t his strongest finish,” then maybe being imperfect doesn’t mean a writer has no business trying. Maybe it just means the work is hard.

And endings are hard.

For any writer, I think the opening and the closing are the hardest parts. That’s true whether you’re writing a short story, an essay, a reflection or a novel. The beginning has to invite the reader in. The ending has to make the journey feel worth it. Everything in the middle may not be easy, exactly, but compared to getting in and getting out, it sometimes feels that way.

With my own book, I had the opening line years before I ever wrote the story. It just came to me, and I mentally filed it away under, “Don’t you dare forget this line, because this is the perfect opener.”

Then, as I was writing the final chapter, the closing came to me in much the same way. My characters were in the right place. Certain pieces were already there, waiting to be used. Suddenly, I could see precisely how it needed to end.

I was almost terrified as I wrote it.

Not because the ending was bad, but because it felt important. It felt like one of those moments when the story was either going to land or it wasn’t. But somehow, the ending presented itself to me. I don’t want to give it away, because I still hope people will get to read it one day, but I will say this: when I finished it, I felt like the plane had landed.

That blew me away.

I won’t claim the book is perfect. I won’t claim it belongs on a shelf beside the masters. But I do believe the ending is satisfying. At least it is to me. It feels earned. It feels true to the characters. It feels like the story found the place where it was always supposed to arrive.

Maybe that’s why this question is hard for me. I don’t immediately think of another author’s ending I’d change. I think about endings themselves — how hard they are, how much they matter, and how encouraging it is to know that even writers as great as Stephen King have struggled with them.

If someone like him can wrestle with endings and still become one of the most beloved storytellers of our time, then maybe there’s hope for the rest of us.

Maybe there’s even hope for me.

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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.

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Quick Thought – Thursday, June 25, 2026: Nothing is Truly Hidden

Posted on June 25, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

Read

Hebrews 4

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:13

Reflect

One of my favorite movies is the animated classic Shrek. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the tale of an ogre who goes in search of a kidnapped princess who is being held captive by a dragon. One of the surprises in the film is when we find out that Fiona has been under a curse since she was a child, and that the curse doomed her to transform into an ogress every night when the sun went down. She keeps this hidden from almost everyone until her wedding day, when the sun goes down and she turns into an ogre in front of the entire assembly.

It occurred to me recently that this is a lot like so many people who keep certain parts of their lives hidden from everyone. In the movie, Fiona’s secret ended up not being a terrible thing, because her “true nature” was meant to be that of an ogre. But in our lives, so much of what we keep hidden is the sin that we don’t want anyone to know about. Worse yet, we too often try to keep from admitting those things even to God, perhaps because that means we will have to own them ourselves.

We are reminded repeatedly in the Bible that nothing is ever truly hidden — least of all from the God who knows everything. You might have a sin, or sins, that make you feel like an ogre down deep, but the best way to overcome those feelings is to confess your sins and allow God’s forgiveness to flow through you. Today’s verse, Hebrews 4:13, tells us that we will have to give an account of our actions to the Lord. But in verse 16, it encourages us to “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

If you’re struggling with a sin that’s plaguing you, I hope you can be honest with the Lord and allow Him to prove His compassion, mercy and grace to you. And if that sin has kept you trapped in secrecy and shame, I encourage you to find someone trustworthy and spiritually mature you can confess to, so that it will no longer remain hidden.

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Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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The Language Barrier Starts Here

Posted on June 24, 2026 by Douglas Blaine
Daily writing prompt
Which languages do you speak and how did that impact your life?
View all responses

I speak English.

That is the honest answer.

I also speak Southern English, which is technically English, but with more contractions, more dropped consonants, more “y’all,” and a few phrases that do not translate well outside the South. I can say “fixin’ to” with complete sincerity. I know that “bless your heart” can mean anything from sincere compassion to a formal declaration of war. I understand that “over yonder” is a real location, even if it does not appear on Google Maps.

So yes, I speak English.

Mostly.

Beyond that, my linguistic skills get a little shaky.

At the start of seventh grade, we took six weeks each of German, Spanish and French. It was a brief little tour through the languages of the world, or at least the languages offered in our middle school. Apparently, I did well enough in those classes that Mom thought I could have explored becoming a translator.

That would have been an interesting career path.

Unfortunately, the world’s future diplomats were not exactly lining up to hire the kid whose greatest foreign language achievement would one day be, “The pen is blue.”

I ended up taking Spanish in eighth grade, but then I transferred schools midyear and didn’t take another language again until college. There, I took two semesters of Spanish, which should have been enough to make me at least mildly useful in a Spanish-speaking country.

Instead, all these years later, I have phrases like:

La pluma es azul.

La silla es blanca.

La mujer es muy bonita.

And then I quickly run out of road.

At that point, the next sentence I really need is, “How do you say, ‘Please don’t hurt me for butchering your beautiful language’ in Spanish?”

For the record, I think it would be something like:

Por favor, no me haga daño por destrozar su hermoso idioma.

Which sounds a little dramatic, but probably appropriate.

I can probably still manage a little Pig Latin, too, if absolutely necessary, though I’m not sure when that would be useful unless I’m trying to negotiate with a fifth grader from 1978.

The truth is, I wish I had learned another language well. I admire people who can move comfortably between languages, because that is not just about knowing different words. It is about understanding different cultures, different rhythms and different ways of thinking. Language carries history, humor, family, faith, frustration and love. When you learn another language, you are not just memorizing vocabulary. You are stepping into someone else’s world.

I never really did that.

What I did do was spend my life with English. Reading it. Writing it. teaching it. Correcting it. Occasionally abusing it for comic effect.

English has shaped my life because words have always mattered to me. They have helped me tell stories, teach students, make arguments, write reflections, explain faith, preserve memories and occasionally talk myself out of problems I probably talked myself into.

So, no, I do not speak multiple languages.

I speak English.

I speak Southern.

I speak teacher.

I speak sarcasm.

I speak “I’m fixin’ to lose my patience” fluently.

And on rare occasions, under pressure, I might speak enough Spanish to identify a blue pen, a white chair and a very pretty woman.

After that, I’m going to need a translator.

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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.

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Quick Thought – Wednesday, June 24, 2026: Stuck Like Glue

Posted on June 24, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

Read

Galatians 5:1-12

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1

Reflect

If you’ve ever used super glue, there’s a good chance that you’ve glued something unintentionally — like your fingers. The adhesive bonds so quickly that in just a few seconds your fingertips can be fused together.

In a way, that’s how our words can sometimes be. They can “superglue” certain qualities to people, and they’re usually traits that people don’t appreciate. I’m reminded of when my daughter was in first grade. We found out that her teacher often said hurtful things to the students and even made fun of them at times. She would mock them with phrases like, “Do you not have any brains in your head?” A year in this teacher’s classroom left my little 7-year-old daughter feeling that she was foolish and inferior.

Parents, or any adult, for that matter, probably don’t think much about how words can hurt a child. But that’s the way sin works. Without thinking about it, we can superglue problems to people — or even ourselves — with hurtful words and actions. And we all tend to carry around the burden of these problems like weights on our backs.

If you’ve fused your fingers with super glue, you know that it’s a mistake to try to rip them apart. If you do that, you’ll make the situation even worse by tearing the flesh on both fingers. Again, it’s much like the spiritual situation we face when we superglue hurtful words and actions to people. We can’t simply tear those words and actions away. Just like super-glued fingers require the proper solvent, our wounded spirits also require the freeing work of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit to loosen the things that don’t belong.

Would you like to be freed from the hurt, devaluation, depression and loneliness that life has super-glued to your spirit? Our well-intended efforts tend to thrash, pull and tear, but that often does more harm than good. But the healing that comes through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit is the only solvent that brings true freedom.

One of my favorite stories about this very thing comes from VeggieTales. Yes, it’s geared toward children, but “A Snoodle’s Tale,” while sounding like a story written by Dr. Seuss, has a thread of genius. It’s 14 minutes long, but it’s worth the time it takes to watch.

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Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt and Charles Fulton

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Tasting Tuesday: Jefferson’s Reserve Limited Edition Cask Strength

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

Jefferson’s has always been one of those bourbon brands that leaves me more intrigued by the story than satisfied by the pour.

That may sound harsh, but I think it’s fair. Jefferson’s built much of its reputation on experimentation. This is a brand that leans hard into blending, finishing, movement, climate, travel and maturation gimmickry — and I don’t use that last word entirely as an insult. Sometimes experimentation works. Sometimes it creates something genuinely different. Sometimes it mostly creates a good backstory and a higher shelf price.

That has been my problem with Jefferson’s for a while.

The obvious example is Jefferson’s Ocean. The concept is interesting enough. Fully matured bourbon is loaded onto ships and sent around the world, where the constant motion of the sea, temperature swings, humidity and salt air are supposed to push the whiskey into places it would not go in a traditional Kentucky rickhouse. Jefferson’s talks about the barrels traveling to ports around the globe, crossing the equator, being rocked by the waves and exposed to conditions no warehouse could duplicate.

As marketing, that’s fantastic. As bourbon, at least in my experience, it has been less convincing.

I’ve had Jefferson’s Ocean, and I was grossly underwhelmed. It tasted like standard bourbon at a premium price, with the cruise ticket passed along to the customer. I know people who have had good bottles of it, and I’m not calling them wrong. But even some of them admit Ocean can be hit-or-miss. For a bottle that usually costs real money and sits behind a romantic story about sea air and ship logs, hit-or-miss is a tough sell.

Then Jefferson’s went even further with Tropics, exposing barrels of mature Kentucky bourbon to the heat and humidity of Singapore. Again, that’s a fascinating idea. It’s the kind of thing bourbon nerds should at least want to understand. But for me, Jefferson’s has too often been a brand where the concept outruns the whiskey. The bottle sounds more interesting than it tastes.

So I had pretty much made up my mind.

Jefferson’s was not really for me.

Then a guy brought a bottle of Jefferson’s Reserve Limited Edition Cask Strength to a bottle share last weekend.

I almost skipped it.

That’s the danger of writing off a brand. Once you’ve had enough underwhelming pours, you start assuming the next one will follow the same pattern. But I decided to take a taste, and I’m glad I did, because this one stopped me cold.

The color was rich copper, which immediately suggested this wasn’t going to be some thin, polite, dressed-up shelfer. The nose came across beautifully: butterscotch, caramel, toasted oak and nutmeg. It was warm, deep and inviting without turning harsh.

Then came the taste.

This is where the bottle separated itself from the rest of my Jefferson’s experience. The mouthfeel was syrupy and full, coating the palate in a way that made the proof feel like a feature instead of a warning label. I got cinnamon, cherries, toffee and caramel, with a wonderful red-fruit richness running through it. The finish lingered beautifully, carrying those same flavors forward, especially the cinnamon and cherry notes, with enough oak structure to keep everything from becoming candy.

This is not a gimmick bottle.

This is bourbon.

Better yet, this is the kind of bourbon that reminds you why cask strength matters. When it works, the extra proof doesn’t just bring heat. It brings weight, texture, concentration and a longer finish. It makes the flavors feel less diluted and more complete. Jefferson’s Reserve Limited Edition Cask Strength does that.

Naturally, after tasting it at the bottle share, I wanted to find one. Fortunately, Total Wine had some on the shelf at $75. That made the decision easy, especially because Jefferson’s Ocean was sitting there at about $80, bottled at 90 proof, still asking me to believe in the voyage.

No thanks.

I’ll take the 8-year, unfiltered, cask-strength bottle with actual flavor behind it.

And that’s really the lesson here. Even brands that frustrate you can still surprise you. Even brands that seem to deliver a string of duds — and in my opinion, Jefferson’s has done that often enough — still have the ability to bring forward something undeniably worth owning.

Jefferson’s Reserve Limited Edition Cask Strength is that bottle.

If you’ve been alienated by Jefferson’s lineup, particularly by bottles like Ocean or Tropics, don’t let that keep you from giving this one a serious look. This doesn’t taste like a story in search of a whiskey. It tastes like a whiskey that finally deserves the story.

I cracked open my new bottle, and I’m already glad I bought it.

At $75, it’s not cheap. But it is worth it.

And for the first time in a while, Jefferson’s didn’t leave me wondering whether I had paid for bourbon or for the brochure.

This time, the bourbon won.

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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.

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Best Advice: You Play Like You Practice

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Douglas Blaine
Daily writing prompt
What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?
View all responses

What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?

In my serious moments with my students, I tell them that school is preparation for life.

For middle schoolers, there is no magic study genie that will suddenly appear when they get to high school. For high schoolers, there is no switch that automatically flips when they get to college. The way you prepare right now is probably the way you are training yourself to prepare later.

Yes, some people turn a major corner. Some students really do become dramatically different in the next stage of life. I got a letter this year from a former student who did exactly that. She was a D student, at best, when I had her in eighth grade, but in high school she did well enough to be accepted to a solid in-state university. I was proud of her, and I was proud to have been a small part of her journey.

But for every one of her, there are dozens of students I’ve had who did exactly the same in high school that they did in eighth grade — or worse. And while I don’t know how all of my high school students have done in college, I can’t imagine the pattern is much different.

It certainly wasn’t different for me.

I was lazy in high school, and in my first attempt at college, I was even lazier. I did not suddenly become disciplined because the stakes got higher. I did not magically become more responsible because the setting changed. I carried the habits I had built with me, and then I paid the price for them.

It’s like sports. You play like you practice.

That may sound harsh, but it’s true. If you practice cutting corners, you’ll probably cut corners when it matters. If you practice doing just enough to get by, you’ll probably keep doing just enough to get by. If you practice waiting until the last minute, you’ll probably become an adult who is always scrambling at the last minute.

But the good news is also true.

If you practice showing up, you become someone who shows up. If you practice preparing well, you become someone who is ready when opportunity comes. If you practice doing your best when the assignment doesn’t seem important, you are training yourself to do your best when the work really does matter.

So my advice to someone younger than me is this: start developing right now the habits you want to have later in life.

Don’t wait until high school. Don’t wait until college. Don’t wait until your first real job. Don’t wait until life gets serious, because life is already teaching you who you are becoming.

It is much easier to set good habits in stone while you’re young than to spend years trying to unlearn bad habits after they’ve already hardened. Start now. Practice now. Prepare now.

Because someday, when the moment matters, you’ll probably play the way you practiced.

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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.

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Quick Thought – Tuesday, June 23, 2026: Somebody’s Wallace

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

Read

1 John 3:11-24

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:18

Reflect

There are so many stories about Abraham Lincoln that it’s hard to tell what’s truth and what’s fiction. But one story that seems to bear truth is one retold by Joanna Lane, the wife of Senator Henry Lane of Kansas.

Senator Lane had been a military commander and a good friend of General Lew Wallace. You may recognize that name. Later in life, Wallace became a novelist and was best known for a little book called Ben-Hur. But I digress. The two were close enough that Wallace had even named his only son Henry Lane Wallace. During the Civil War, Wallace was at one point the youngest major general in the Union Army, and he commanded the 3rd Division of the Army of the Tennessee under Ulysses S. Grant. Wallace and his brigades were involved in the Battle of Shiloh, which was, at that point, the deadliest battle of the Civil War. Nearly 24,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, captured or missing — including a general named Wallace.

Hearing the news, Senator Lane rushed to find out more from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. While there, he encountered President Lincoln, who was also there to learn about the general’s fate. The truth, they learned, was that it was a different General Wallace — W.H.L. Wallace of Illinois — who had been mortally wounded in the battle. Relieved, Senator Lane stated, “I’m so thankful it wasn’t our Wallace.”

“Yes,” the president replied, “but it was somebody’s Wallace.”

So often, we can unintentionally reveal our selfishness when we lose sight of how other people are affected by the trials of this life. We rejoice when we are spared from destruction by the same storm that brings devastation to someone else. It’s not wrong to be grateful for our survival, but we must have enough love to show compassion for others who aren’t as fortunate. The love we have in Christ must be stronger than the love of the world. If it’s not, of what value is our Christian faith?

The Bible commands us to love so many times and in so many ways that it’s impossible to escape the importance of expressing love to others. In John 13:34, Jesus told His disciples to love each other as He had loved them. In today’s scripture, we are told that true love is shown in laying our lives down for others. In Luke 6:35, Jesus admonished His followers to not just love their friends, but to love those who opposed them. And, of course, there’s the famous passage of 1 Corinthians 13, which tells us that pure love is completely unselfish.

The bottom line, clearly, is that we’re called to love, and to love broadly. Our love should extend beyond the four walls of the world with which we’re comfortable and reach those we don’t know and even those who might be unfriendly to us. In every situation, our love should compel us to have compassion on those who need it most. Somebody’s “Wallace” needs love today. Will you give it?

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Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt and Charles Fulton

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Hidden Gems That Go Dark: Missing Chicken in Macclenny

Posted on June 22, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

I had meant to write about Motlee’s.

Actually, I had meant to write about it last year. The working title in my head was “Hidden Gems: Amazing Chicken in Macclenny,” because that is exactly what it was. Motlee’s was one of those places you don’t expect to find. It looked like a fast-food restaurant, and technically it was one, but the menu was huge and the chicken tenders were worth going out of your way to find.

And we did.

Whenever Daryl and I were driving through Macclenny on our way to or from Atlanta, Motlee’s became part of the route. It wasn’t always the most direct path, but that didn’t matter. There are places you stop because they are convenient, and there are places you stop because you already know what you want before you ever pull into the parking lot.

Motlee’s was the second kind.

The chicken tenders were the draw. They were marinated in pickle juice, which sounds simple enough until you taste what that little detail does. They had flavor before the sauce ever entered the picture. They had that tang, that seasoning, that little something extra that separates a forgettable chicken tender from one you remember six months later. In a world full of copy-and-paste fast food, Motlee’s felt like somebody had actually thought about the food.

That is why I was disappointed to learn that Motlee’s is no more.

According to a Feb. 4 story in The Baker County Press, the restaurant was issued an eviction notice in December for nonpayment of rent. The article also reported that civil court records point to a 2023 lawsuit involving allegations of fraud connected to the business and related restaurant ventures. The details are complicated, and the defendants have denied wrongdoing in various motions and responses. That part matters. Allegations are not findings, and lawsuits are not verdicts.

Still, the larger story is sad.

Opening a restaurant is hard. Keeping one open may be harder. Customers see the menu, the counter, the drive-through, the food coming out of the kitchen. We don’t see the leases, loans, invoices, payroll, partnerships, ownership disputes, supplier bills, legal fees, rent payments or cash-flow problems. We don’t see how thin the margins are. We don’t see how quickly a business can go from “people love this place” to “the doors are locked.”

That is true even without legal trouble. Add lawsuits, allegations, disputed ownership interests and financial strain, and the whole thing becomes even more fragile.

The irony is that Motlee’s had what so many restaurants are trying to find. It had a reason to exist. It had something distinctive. It had food people remembered. It had customers like us who would detour through Macclenny just to get those chicken tenders.

That doesn’t guarantee survival, of course. Good food is not always enough. A great product can still lose to rent, debt, bad timing, bad structure, bad decisions, bad luck or some messy combination of all of the above.

But the customers still lose.

We lose one more choice. We lose one more independent place that wasn’t just another familiar logo on a sign. We lose one more little local stop that made a drive feel more like a tradition. We lose the chance to say, “You’ve got to try this place,” because by the time I finally got around to writing the post, the place was already gone.

That may be the part that bothers me most. I meant to tell people about Motlee’s while they could still go.

Instead, I’m writing about it after the fact.

There is probably a lesson there, and it’s not only about restaurants. When you find something good, say so. When a small business does something well, tell people. When a local place gives you a reason to come back, don’t assume it will always be there waiting the next time you pass through town.

Sometimes the hidden gems stay hidden too long.

And sometimes, by the time you finally point them out, the lights have already gone dark.

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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.

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I’m Inspired By the People Who Take Away My Excuses

Posted on June 22, 2026 by Douglas Blaine
Daily writing prompt
Who are you most inspired by?
View all responses

Who are you most inspired by?

I’m most often inspired by people who overcome long odds to do amazing things.

Not always famous people. Not always people whose names show up in history books. Sometimes they are people whose names I can’t even remember, though I have never forgotten their stories.

Years ago, a teacher who mentored me told me about a student she once taught. I have been wracking my brain trying to remember his name, but I just can’t pull it back. What I remember is the story.

He was confined to a wheelchair and had very limited use of his hands. I believe he used one hand to operate the joystick on his wheelchair, but when he needed to write, he did it by holding a pen in his teeth.

And he wrote.

He almost never missed a day of school, my mentor told me. During one winter break, he had surgery to have a rod placed in his back. Most of us would have milked that for every bit of sympathy and recovery time we could get. He was back in school almost immediately after the break.

He was a straight-A student.

He did not complain.

Years later, that same teacher showed me an article about him. He was in college, serving as a graduate assistant, and engaged to be married.

I wish I remembered his name. I don’t. But I remember what his life said to me.

It said, “What’s your excuse?”

That is the kind of person who inspires me. Not because their lives are easy. Not because they pretend pain, difficulty or limitation do not exist. They inspire me because they face those things and keep going anyway. They remind me how much I have, and how few excuses I really have for not getting things done.

I saw a version of that same kind of determination in one of my own students this year.

She was on the spectrum and faced some significant emotional challenges. There were days when simply being in class was not easy for her. But what stood out to me was not the challenge. It was the diligence.

Even when she missed class, she came back and insisted on turning in missing work, even when I was willing to excuse it. She cared about the quality of her work more than almost any student I have ever taught. She did not want a pass. She wanted to do the work well.

That inspires me.

She graduated last month, and I hate that I will not see her in class this coming year. I will miss her presence. I will miss her effort. I will miss the quiet reminder she gave me that character is often revealed not in the easy assignments, but in the ones we have every reason to avoid.

People like that inspire me because they do not let me romanticize my own obstacles.

They remind me that difficulty is real, but so is diligence.

They remind me that showing up matters.

They remind me that excellence is still possible, even when life makes it harder than it ought to be.

And they remind me, more often than I would like to admit, that I have far fewer excuses than I pretend I do.

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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.

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Quick Thought – Monday, June 22, 2026: Teach Your Children Well

Posted on June 22, 2026 by Douglas Blaine

Read

Deuteronomy 4:5-14

Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children…
Deuteronomy 4:9

Reflect

A number of years ago, Emory University did a study that surveyed 600 Atlanta-area high school seniors and their parents regarding the use of drugs and alcohol. Not surprisingly, it found that parents tended to greatly underestimate how involved their children were in the use of various substances.

While only 35 percent of parents believed their children had consumed alcohol in the past month, 67 percent of the students admitted to drinking during that same time. And while just 3 percent of parents thought their children had smoked marijuana, 28 percent of the seniors said they had used it in the past 30 days.

Those numbers are older now, and in some ways the national picture has changed. Teen alcohol use has declined significantly since many of us were young, and that is good news. Alcohol may not be the default temptation for students the way it once was.

But that does not mean the problem has disappeared. It has changed shape.

In schools today, we see that change in the form of vapes, THC products and edibles. Students sneak vapes onto campus because they are small, easy to hide and hard to detect. Marijuana is not viewed by many students the way it was viewed by earlier generations. Some do not see it as a serious drug at all. They see it as normal, harmless or no more dangerous than something they could buy in a store if only they were old enough.

I do not believe most students are using marijuana. But I do believe more students have access to it than many parents realize, and I believe many students are far less alarmed by it than their parents would hope. A few years ago, one of my own eighth-grade students was removed from campus for selling edibles to other students. That does not mean every child is doing it. It does mean the problem is real, close and easier to hide than many parents want to believe.

That is why parents cannot afford to live on assumptions. They cannot simply say, “My child would never,” or “That does not happen at my child’s school.” Maybe not. Hopefully not. But hope is not the same thing as attention, and denial is not the same thing as protection.

Time spent with your children is vital, and these days there seems to be less and less time available for parents and children to spend together in meaningful ways. Many families are busy, distracted and scattered. Even when everyone is in the same room, screens can keep people separated. Parents may assume they know what is happening in their children’s lives, while their children are carrying worries, habits, temptations and secrets that never come up in ordinary conversation.

Some parents also miss the ways their own habits can normalize the very things they fear in their children. A child who sees adults constantly reaching for alcohol, medication, entertainment or any other escape may learn more from that example than from any lecture. Children are always being taught. The only question is who is teaching them, and what lesson they are learning.

Moses commanded the children of Israel to never forget what the Lord had taught them in their journey through the wilderness. They were to keep those things in their hearts all the days of their lives, and they were to make them known to their children and to their children’s children.

That command still matters.

We cannot assume our children will pick up faith, wisdom, discipline or discernment by accident. They will not become disciples by osmosis. They need parents, grandparents and faithful adults who will remember what God has done, live as though it matters, and speak of Him naturally and consistently.

That does not mean every conversation has to become a sermon. It means children should see faith lived at home before they hear it preached at church. They should see repentance when we are wrong, gratitude when we are blessed, trust when life is uncertain and obedience when obedience is hard. They should know that following Christ is not merely something we claim on Sunday, but something that shapes our choices every day.

Parents cannot protect their children from every temptation. They cannot control every hallway conversation, every friendship, every screen or every secret. But they can be present. They can be watchful. They can ask better questions. They can listen longer. They can model the life they hope their children will choose.

And most of all, they can teach their children well.

Not merely by warning them what to avoid, but by showing them Who is worth following.

Reflection copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt and Charles Fulton

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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