Today we had quite the experience. Jackson’s school went into lockdown after a gun was found in the bathroom. In the last month, Huntsville has seen its share of violence in our schools. A young student was killed by another during class change. The next week, we experienced a professor shoot and kill some of her fellow professors at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. And now this today. Jill and I have spent the morning in prayer and worry about our son. This is certainly a different world from the one that I grew up in and at times it seems like a war-zone in the schools.
I’ve asked myself what can we do to make our schools safer and have only two thoughts. We MUST be in constant prayer for our schools, teachers, students and the parents of the students. I believe that prayer may be the only way we can find protection for our children and they must be bathed in it each day. Churches should form teams who go and pray over each desk that children sit in at least once a week. There are 7 churches on the same side of the road as my son’s school who could adopt that school and pray for it each day. Or prayer teams could pray for specific teachers each day. Prayer is the answer to this problem and the issue is NOT going away just because we wish it was like it was when we were in school.
I also believe that as parents we must be willing to be involved in our children’s lives. We must get involved in any way possible in their lives at school and be a presence in their schools. As a pastor, I’ve had multiple principles ask me to come and read with the students (they are opening the door to a pastor to come in and interact with the children). I know this is going to take our most valuable resource (time) but it will be time well spent. Our greatest privilege and responsiblity is the raising of our children. Way too many children are raising themselves. As parents and concerned adults, we need to be active and present in the schools.
I would love to read your thoughts regarding this subject. Feel free to leave them in the comment section.
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