In light of the school shooting I am dedicating this blog
post to get a few things off my chest.
First and foremost I think what needs to be happening more than anything
else is a lot of praying. We need
to pray for comfort for the community, families effected, and lost people
around the world who are struggling to make sense of all of this. Before saying anything we really need
to just pray and seek God.
I really feel the need to address a few things that have
been said by both people in the media spot light, political figures, and just
people discussing the event in social media.
Prayer in School:
The first I mentioned on Facebook this morning and just
really want to go into more detail.
Governor Huckabee and others have been spouting off this idea that this
tragedy happened because we have removed God from our schools. The shooting
didn't happen because we've 'removed God from our schools'. I'm sick hearing
political leaders say that. God is omnipresent. He’s everywhere, not just in Christian homes and Christian
schools. He’s in places where
overwhelmingly He is not welcome.
He’s in countries many Christians won’t even go to for fear that their
own lives might be taken from them.
In regards to the Sandy Hook School; God was there. He was there with every child and
teacher and administrator who had ushered him into their own hearts. They
brought God into the school with them. His presence was there. As a former
teacher, I personally used to pray and welcome His presence into my classroom.
I used to pray over each chair before my students arrived that God would help
them to learn.
God did not permit this because we've taken prayer out of
our schools. What about the Amish school shooting? Certainly that was a school
that encouraged prayer. This happened because evil is present in this world.
And you know what, God was with every person in that school building on Friday.
I'm certain he was aching. But I believe He surrounded those who lost their
lives with His presence as they readied to meet Him face to face.
Homeschooling:
Many times this week I’ve heard people, even some in my own
church openly state that they are so grateful that God has called them to
homeschool their children, therefore protecting their kids from ever being shot
at in a school setting. I’ve heard
people spout that while obviously not everyone is able to homeschool, those
that are able really should as it’s the right thing to do. I just want to say, “Don’t go there”
when I hear comments like that. Homeschooling is not the calling of every
Christian. I personally feel called to send my kids to public school. The verse
about being the salt of the earth weighs on my heart. My oldest son shares
Christ with his peers and my youngest son talks about church and God in his
preschool and his teacher has decided to visit our church because she says he
talks about how much he loves it so often that it must be a wonderful place.
Likewise I have made friends with some amazing moms in my son's school and God
has given me opportunities to love them and they love me back. I was a teacher up until 2 years ago
and I could easily homeschool my children but I don't because God has called me
differently. We are each so different as is God's plan for our lives. Similarly, just because you homeschool
your children, doesn’t mean that you can protect them from all harm. As parents we are obviously driven by
maternal/paternal instincts to protect our children from danger. But at the same time as with all things
in our life, we should be praying God would get glory from every situation we
face. Not just, “Oh God keep me
safe, and happy, and fell fed, and living in my own little happy Christian
bubble with my family.”
Anyway, back to my original statement. In light of all that has transpired, we
really just need to pray. We need
to stop pointing fingers and trying to look for practical worldly answers for
why this happened. We need to pray
that in the end God will be glorified by this tragedy as people turn their
hearts over to Him. And we need to
do our part to make that happen, not just sit back and shake our heads and keep
on living our lives.
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