The more I think about this, the scarier it is. I came across a crying child during my run last night.

The Story...

Every night after my show, I try to get out of here before the sun sets so I can hit some trails instead of the treadmill at the gym. No offense to the gym, it's just more fun to run outside.

Last night was like any other night. I left downtown after the show, in my gym clothes, and headed to my favorite spot to run. I put down about a mile and a half when my phone rang. It was my friend Shavon, we haven't talked since December so I turned my run into a fast paced walk while we caught up. This is when I heard something come up behind me.

'Excuse me sir.' Thinking it was a panhandler I ignored him and kept walking. One thing I HATE is being asked for money while I'm trying to work out, especially in the dark.

I hear the voice again, this time softer, and this time the voice had a quiver. 'Excuse me sir, I'm lost.' I turned around and it was a boy on a bike. He looked to be about 10-years-old.

'I was out riding my bike and I can't find my way home.' My heart sank. It was dark, and this poor child had to resort to approaching a stranger. At this point I'm thinking how thankful I am that he approached me, and not someone who could have done harm.

I told Shavon I would call her back and the boy and I dialed his number, his mom answered crying and asking where he was. We explained where he was, and she sent the father to pick him.

I waited with the boy for a few minutes until his father picked him up.

The Lesson...

I've never been a fan of the idea of kids having cell phones until last night.

I'm not sharing this story to pat myself on the back, ANYONE in that situation would have helped that kid. I'm sharing this for parents.

A lot of us grew up with no cell phones. I was about this kid's age when my mom would let me ride my bike all around on my own, no harm. I think you can relate to that. Our parents let us do a lot of things as kids that we would never let our own do.

My point, we have the technology now to keep our kids safe. We need to use it. It's not being overprotective, it's being smart. I have a feeling if our parents had the same technology they would have used it.

In no way am I ripping the parents of that boy, I don't know what the situation was. But I think this is a good reminder that it's okay to hook a phone up to our kids when we send them out. It's safe.

I also want to point out that I'm not a parent, and I'm not trying to tell anyone how to parent. I look at this as a public service, start adding 'what ifs' to this story and it gets down right scary.

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