When most of us were in school, chewing gum or talking back to the teacher was the great violation. I certainly spent my fair share of time in the principles office and getting much needed paddlings and detention. My classmates and I were certainly not angels by any stretch of the imagination, but murdering children and teachers never entered our mind.
The school shooting which began the recent trend of tragedies in the United States began in Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi in 1997. I was less than two miles from the school when it took place. We can look back over the past fifteen years and see the continuation of this type of activity and ask, “Why?” What has happened to our youth? What is happening to our nation? How do we turn this tide of violence?
When I was in school, every morning we had a bible devotion. I even read it one morning in high school. I was more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I knew my life was ungodly and I was not right with God, but there was a healthy fear of God which abided upon me and our student body. Part of the reason for this healthy fear of God was because every day we started class with a bible devotion and prayer. Many of our teachers were Christians and they freely discussed the things of the Lord with us. They pointed us constantly to a higher level of accountability and toward a life of honesty, respect and discipline. Continue reading “What We Don’t Want to Hear”