The way they should go

Today I woke up to the news that there has been yet another school shooting, the 22nd one this year alone in the US. What heartache the parents must be facing at this moment is unthinkable. I recently lost my brother and father to cancer (7 weeks apart), but at least I had time to say goodbye. These parents, had no idea that this morning would be the last moment with their child. It is heartbreaking, to think all that they must be facing. My prayers go out to them.

So, where do I turn to for advise? It's not the news. It's not the government. It's not gun reform. It's not the media. These are all flawed because they are advise from flawed human beings, who have all sinned in their lives and shouldn't be casting the first stones. No, instead I turn to the infallible word of God, the Bible, and I encourage you to do the same. Here are a few choice verses and my reflections based on personal experience.

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. - Psalm 127:3. So I admit, I don't have any children, but I have worked with kids ages 6 through 24 for the past 20 years of my life, so I know a thing or two. Children are a blessing. Can they annoy you? Oh yes they can. I read a statistic yesterday that said a 4 year old asks between 300-400 questions every day! Phew, tiring answering all of those. I encourage you to cherish your children, to love them and spend as much time with them, for you are their hero and they are a gift from God.

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. - Proverbs 22:6. I believe firmly that at the core of the problem is the lack of christian education in school. Because the parents have fallen away from the Lord, the child has no coping mechanisms to deal with adversity. The statistics show that 98% of attackers experienced or perceived a major loss prior to the attack. In my opinion, the solution to all this gun violence is not stricter gun laws, more or less guns in the school, stricter security... no it is a very simple solution. Bring the Bible and Christian world views back into schools. In all the media coverage I've heard, I've not yet heard one Christian stand up for the word of God and tell it the way it is. Clearly our education system is not teaching our children the proper way they should go.

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away. Proverbs 22:15. When I was in high school, we had corporal punishment which involved a few lashes to the buttocks or the hands, but we also offered detention. It was always the child's decision whether they received the lashes or detention. The interesting thing is that 90% of the time, the child chose the lashes. In the same breath though, I've seen abuse of this as well. So what is the solution? Speaking from personal experience, I think too much responsibility is placed on the teachers versus the students. The average student to teacher ratio in US schools is around 30:1. So you can see why it's easy for students to fall through the proverbial crack. I really like the prefect system, that allows the election of students to a governing body that includes matters of discipline and security. I always found that students have a much better pulse on who the problem kids are than grownups. For example, I was a prefect in school, and one of my prefect friends came across another student who was making pipe bombs in the bathroom. Scary right? What happened? Simple, my friend was a prefect, and thus had full authority to confiscate the pipe bomb. I was responsible for running and notifying the principle as the boys wanted me far away from the danger. Yes there was a scuffle and a fist fight over the pipe bombs, but the prefect had 10 other prefect boys to back him up. The pipe bomber was expelled permanently from school. Consequences must have actions. But simply because the prefect had the authority to keep everyone safe and was patrolling the area, kept those bombs from going off. We as prefects took a lot of pride in keeping our school safe from internal threats.

Lastly I leave you with this verse...

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13. If we want lasting peace in our school, we must turn to the Lord and place our trust in Him to teach our children. We as adults need to get out of the way, and let the Lord work.