Further thoughts on JaJuan and Mondays post

JaJuan's story, sadly, is all too common. 12% of an entire city school system....homeless. Amazing. Sad. Maddening. Almost as sad as some of the comments that followed the article on the Birmingham News' website.

If you clicked on the link in the post and read the rest of the article from the B'ham News, you may have noticed a comment towards the end of the article making reference to JaJuan's favorite artist and song. Now I need to go ahead and put a disclaimer of some sort here.

Some may find the rest of this post disturbing. If you are easily offended or if you would prefer to continue living in a bubble, please stop reading now.

My goal here is not to seek shock value simply for shock values sake. My goal is certainly not to offend. My goal is simply to show who this young 8 year old's role models are in our absence.

In the article, JaJuan references his favorite song as being "Lollipop" by the rapper Lil' Wayne. I thought about pasting the lyrics here, but then thought better of it. If you would like to find them you can do so on your own with a couple of quick clicks on Google. Again, I will post a warning. The lyrics go far beyond being sexually suggestive. If you do read through these lyrics however, remember that they are being referenced by an 8 year old as his favorite song. Read them. Weep for the brokenness. Repent for the church's lack of engagement.

Anthony Bradley, a professor at Covenant Theological Seminary and a research fellow at the Acton Institute, published an article in which he discusses Lil' Wayne in particular.

E. Dewey Smith is a Baptist pastor in Decatur, Georgia who has some thoughts on this subject from the pulpit as well. (Another disclaimer: Pastor Smith is rather frank here in his description of a particular song by the rapper Soulja' Boy.)

In the absence of men and women who are so impacted by the gospel of grace that they give up comfort and convenience in order to pursue purposeful relationships with those who have no other gospel influencers in their lives, Lil' Wayne will continue to raise young disciples like JaJuan. And lest we shrug this off as merely an "urban" problem let us not forget that the number one market for this particular brand of rap and hip-hop is SUBURBAN WHITE KIDS.