So far this week ~ I have broken up two fights ~ seen three more, disciplined more children than I can count on my fingers and toes, been in contact with a raging parent ~ had a note from one more, been threatened to be punched by a student, picked up several extremely inappropriate notes, seen a student flip teachers off, then run away and beat on school property, and watched a child wail all the way down the hall all the way onto the buses. I have also daily had students try to reason with and coax me to believe that it's okay to hit someone back when they hit you & to say ugly things back when they say ugly things to you.
A colleague of mine exclaimed to me today, "I've been tellin' em for years now ~ they need to get some ministers, priests, n' pastors in this place. I donna care if they are Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, Methodist...they need to get some of that holy water or anointing oil in here to sprinkle on these children, in these halls, in these classrooms. Then, they need to get a big ole' plane and dump some all on the school and all over the whole city. I'm a tellin' you ~ they've gotta do something!"
I don't really think holy water is what our school or community needs ~ they something much more effective and live changing. They need the reality of the gospel & they need it to change the way they live. They need to begin disciplining their children consistently ~ to "Train
up a child in the way he should go,
so that when he is old he will not depart from it" Proverbs 22:6.
My exposure to the reality of sin, generational sin and consequences of sin in the past fourteen weeks has been massive ~ but it is just a small glimpse into our crumbling culture desperately in need of a Savior. I am daily reminded of my sin nature & grateful to the Lord for the truth of the gospel, for its life altering ~ sin exposing and removing effects.
