wanted a certain thing or would want to do a certain thing but then
later I didn't like or want it. Some at school would present their ideas
and my parents and spiritual advisers presented their ideas. In my mind
I was continually weighing out what was right or what I really wanted to
do.

As we think of the young boy who died of continually taking drugs and
felt that he could "handle" his own life, we see how he chose to travel
the wrong road. Even though his buddies saw what had happened to him
they were so stuck on drugs that they, too, thought they could still
"handle" their lives. What a mistake they are making and I am sure you
are convinced of that fact. None of us are able to *handle* our own
lives. When we are born we have within our very nature a bent toward
evil. That bent toward evil has to be curbed. God gave children parents
because they needed help to face life and to curb that which was within
them that would lead them to the wrong path. Children and teen-agers
should recognize this fact and listen to them. Even if you do not want
to admit it, you can't *handle* your own life without the aid of your
parents. Furthermore you can't handle your life and walk the right path
without God's help. The devil works through the influences of others to
lead you astray. Only through the power of God can the power of the
devil be broken, the bent toward evil be destroyed, and you be able to
do the right or choose the right path. Never feel that you can *handle*
your own life. No man, woman, child, or teen-ager can *handle* his life
or obey the Word of God, which teaches him the way to live in this life
and be ready to die, without help from outside of himself.

In my early teen-age life there were two verses of Scripture that I had
learned by memory which were a guide to me. One was, "Children, obey
your parents in the Lord: for this is right," Eph. 6:1. The other one