Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach quck

and in today's episode I'm telling you

don't start with guns and what I mean by

that is we're talking about School

shooters in particular how we make

School shooters in this Society it's

based on a wonderful and exclusive

article in the Washington post about a

school shooter in Georgia a 14-year-old

kid who killed four people and is now

facing murder charges as an adult and

here's my basic argument all the

conversation around school shooting is

about guns and listen I don't think

that's bad for us to have that debate I

think it's worth arguing about what the

role of guns are in our society but I

also think it's not the first argument

we should be having it's not even the

first thing that leads to school

shooting when you read this article in

the Washington Post you're going to find

four trends that you find in almost

every school shooting store story four

things that we can actually fix four

things that if we take seriously we can

actually move the needle on school

shooting and none of them have anything

to do with guns listen we're just

yelling at each other on guns we're not

getting anywhere but these are four

things we can agree on they're not

political they're social they're things

that if we take seriously we can change

and by the way they are four things that

the local church can and should be

aiming at so here they are four things

things that will actually help with

school shooting number one in almost

every instance a school shooter is

coming from a broken family in this

particular case the school shooter was

coming from a family with a mom who was

strung out on drugs a dad who had proven

time and time again to be irresponsible

a grandmother who was doing everything

she could but was overmatched by time

and energy listen broken families are a

problem and we can't just think of them

as a problem when one of their kids

decides to get violent the truth is this

kid had been living a hellish existence

on Earth for a long time the article is

heartbreaking this is where we have to

take seriously the breakdown of the

nuclear family we have to provide

resources and tools for helping families

get help and find ways to reconcile

conflict to deal with addiction to to

aim at the problems that are facing them

and I can't think of an organization

more equipped to to do that than the

local church broken families should be

our problem they should be our business

as we are preaching hope to families

restoration reconciliation Redemption

that's our message and one by one as we

connect with different families and help

them find Grace and peace and learn to

love each other we are actually saving

future catastrophes the second thing is

when people are crying out for for help

this is yet another example of a young

person who time and time again through

their poor Behavior had been showing the

world around them that they needed help

this kid had posted awful things online

spray painted awful things on the walls

been a consistent Behavior problem in

school but as those who work with kids

whether professionally or in the local

church we have to start to see that poor

behavior in children is often an

indication of something being br broken

in their world it isn't just a fire for

us to put out or a nuisance for us to

clear out of our day for those of us who

commit Our Lives to working with kids we

have to find a newfound energy to say

that problem kid in the corner might be

telling me there's something massive

going on in his life what would have

happened if these cries for help had

been heard in a local church in a school

if problem kids start to become not just

problems to us us but problems for us to

solve through love and attention and

compassion we might just save the next

school shooting the third thing is

mental illness listen this family was

Rife with mental illness problems mental

health conditions and as a society we've

got to get so much better at how we

think about these things Christians have

to dedicate themselves to pursuing

careers and and service through

counseling through the local church and

Beyond and not just counseling but

counseling to people who can't afford it

finding ways to demystify help and to

help people overcome stigma and

obstacles and objections to seeking

counseling this kid needed help from a

professional and that would have saved

lives had he gotten it and then fourth

uh big mistakes listen Paul says

whatever whatever you do whether you eat

or drink do all to the glory of God

that's First Corinthians chapter 10 and

that means doing your job at a really

high level in this story what is

heartbreaking is that the school

actually had a warning that morning that

this kid was a threat and school

administrators grabbed and detained the

wrong student which also means they

didn't have a great knowledge of who was

in their student body and who was

potentially a risk a police offer

officer who stopped by this kid's home

when alerted by the FBI that this kid

had been making threats online didn't

bother to open the email attachment that

the FBI sent him that would have shown

pictures of of assault rifles and

explicit threats to shoot up his

particular school instead the police

officer stopped by for just a little bit

asked the kid do you plan to shoot a

school up and when the kid said no he

said okay I'll take you at your word and

in every one of these instances there

are adults who didn't do their job with

a high level of Excellence Christians

should be able to rise up and meet the

standard of glorifying God and maybe not

miss these opportunities listen each one

of these things could be a podcast unto

itself but simply put guns might be

worth arguing about but there's so much

else that we can actually aim at as

Christians and as Citizens that will

actually prevent these things in the

future hey thanks so much for watching

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