In the good-guy/bad-guy adventure stories our five-year-old grandson, Brian, wants us to read to him before bedtime, it's an unbreakable rule: The good guys always win. They may have to contend long and hard to outmaneuver the villains—and they sometimes have breathtakingly close calls—but the good guys never fail to emerge victorious. So Brian's never really scared, even though he says "Wow!" as each new exploit unfolds, and snuggles up close when it looks as if the good-guy hero is in trouble. Because he knows a happy ending is just a few pages away.
But the endings aren't always so neat and satisfying in the news coverage Brian's parents watch after he and his sister go to sleep. There, searing details of terrorism and war, accident and illness, often tug at the heartstrings and urgently call out for prayer.
And so one wonders, Is the natural faith in goodness that we nurture in children not sustainable as they grow up? Are we setting them up for crushing disappointment as "reality" crowds in on them in later years? Will the specter of evil inevitably overshadow the pure goodness of their lives?
