Rita Polatin of the Christian Science Sentinel—Radio Edition talks with Kory Ford and Robert (Robbie) Gallegos from Littleton, Colorado.

Rita Polatin: What do you two see as some of the challenges that teenagers and young adults face today?

Kory Ford: Oh, there are plenty of challenges ... peer pressure. Everybody wants to do something crazy, something stupid.

RP: Why do you think that is?

Robbie Gallegos: I guess it's the teenage years. It can be a rebellious time.

RP: Do you think that God or rules or morals have a role to play today in the lives of young people?

KF: Yes, I think they do. If young people gave God and His rules a chance and really thought about them, then I know they would play even more of a role than they do now.

RP: How would you describe yourselves?

KF: We used to be really bad. Robbie and I are best friends, and we'd go out and do crazy, bad stuff. I can remember when Robbie went to jail. He went there for six months. It made me stop and think, because he was my best friend. It was kind of scary.

I went to church every Sunday, but I didn't listen that much. Now I started listening a little bit more.

One lady told me, "Life is always better if you laugh a lot." Making a commitment to have a positive attitude, I saw my whole world change. I used to think to myself: "My dad left me and I don't have a lot of money. I'm poor and I live in a run-down neighborhood—look at this place!" I felt like I lived in a dump and that I was always getting dumped on. But I thought to myself, looking back to what I'd heard in Sunday School: "You know that hopeless picture of you, your family, and friends—that's not true. You don't have to associate all those problems with you, because that's not really you."

RP: Then, who are you?

KF: I'm what everyone truly is—God's perfect child. I know that much. God is good and we express Him. Saying that isn't enough, though. You have to be willing to listen to Him, to do what you know is good. You have to let God show you what is good.

RP: Robbie, tell us what happened when you were in jail.

RG: First of all, I was lonely. About the same time I was in jail, Kory's brother was also in jail. My grandmother passed away, and that made me even more sad.

RP: Was there any time when you felt that God was there? Did you even know anything about God?

RG: I'd gone to church, too, before I went to jail. When you're in jail, you end up with time to think. It made me pray more to God and ask Him to help me change, to lead me the right way, to give me some help along the road of life.

RP: What were some of the turning points for both of you?

KF: For me, it was when my brother and Robbie were in jail at the same time. That was a big turning point—it was as if everyone was going to jail. I didn't want to go. But it wasn't like they were setting an example not to do bad stuff anymore. All this made me want to become a better person and get good grades and be good—to be the kid in the neighborhood that everyone likes and knows. It made me want to be that good example so that people could see the good I knew was true about me. It would make them feel proud, too.

RP: It would also give hope. If you could do it, maybe others around you could do it as well.

KF: Yeah.

RG: My turning point was when my grandmother passed away. We were really close. My grandmother pretty much helped raise me and my brother. She helped my mom out a lot, too. Since I was in jail, no one was really there to help my mom out. It kind of made me say, "When I get out, I'm going to do all I can to please my family and make them proud of me." I could see my mom needed me.

RP: People might be thinking, "I want this, too, but it's hard." You go back home and you're in the neighborhood—you've got the peer pressure again. Is there any help out there?

KF: Sometimes it feels like there's no one you can turn to and there's nothing you can do. But with God, you can do it—you really can.

Up to the point Robbie and my brother went to jail, they were my role models. Everyone that wasn't in jail was still hanging around and mingling, wanting me to do this, wanting me to do that. But I just didn't anymore. I had always known right from wrong. I guess I kind of got a kick out of doing wrong until things started to go bad.

RP: How did you learn right from wrong?

KF: I think you always know when you're doing something wrong. It's very obvious if you stop to think about it. When you do something bad on purpose, you know you are doing wrong, even though you try to convince yourself you don't really care. I just started to care whether I was doing right or wrong. I had never paid much attention as to why I did that stuff, and now I started to care about it.

I've come to see that you're never really alone. You always have God on your side. You can always pray to God to help you know what's right and wrong. But it's hard for some to go ahead and just pray to God, because He isn't like a person sitting here right next to you, even though He is present. He is Spirit, everywhere you are. And you're never out of His care. It was hard for me to grasp that at first—to know that He was actually there.

RP: Could you ever feel His presence?

KF: Yeah, I could always see it in the children. There were these kids in my neighborhood, and their parents were deadbeats. The mom had so many kids. She didn't do anything. She liked to drink a little bit, and the dad was always drinking, smoking, and being mean. He threw his brother out the window one time. But I could always see God in those children because they knew what was going on but they knew how to handle it. It was almost like somebody was telling them what to do and just taking them in. I could always see God in those little children.

RP: It sounds like what you're saying is that we're all actually pure. We're all able to know and feel God's presence as His children. It's just that sometimes we turn away from God, and that's what makes it harder for us to see and feel His presence.

KF: Exactly. We've had lots of good times in our family, and we've stayed close. I think the willingness to turn to God is something that has kept us all going during the hard times. Right now we have a two-bedroom apartment, and we have four grown boys and my mom all living in it. We don't argue that much. We never get into fistfights or anything, hardly ever yell at each other. We take turns doing chores and dishes and cleaning up. It's like we're one unit. We all work hand in hand. It's really good.

RP: Why do you think that's possible?

KF: We all go to church together. It's a Christian Science church. Sunday mornings are the best because Mom is up first and she blasts her music. She wakes us up and gets us out of bed, and we have so much fun. We all go to church in a good mood.

RP: That's great. What do you see for your future now?

RG: I think my future looks very good.

RP: Any hopes? Any desires?

KF: I know Robbie would like to be an actor. He talks about it all the time.

RP: Kory, what do you want to do?

KF: Oh, I don't know. If I could be or have anything, I would have a good family—a good, healthy family. And maybe I'd be a writer.

RP: Kory, you wrote a poem called "Victory."

KF: Yes, I wrote it for my mother.

RP: Why is that?

KF: Because she helped me do so many things. She helped me in everything because I would fall into depressions. I would get so down on myself. My mom would always help me through it and help me turn to God. And it just seemed like no one else ever had time enough to do that—to actually care about me. But my mom was always there. I'm learning more and more that God is there, too.

RP: If you could say anything you wanted to listeners [and readers], what would you say?

KF: I think I'd probably say just be as you are, who you are as God's perfect child. You're never outside of God's care. He's always, always holding you. Just be as you are.

RP: Robbie, what would you say?

RG: That God is always with you. You should love your family.

RP: Robbie and Kory, thanks so much.