Greetings Awesome Person,
I know you are being inundated with information about the assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump, but let's remember that the shooter was a 20 year old young man, a member of Gen Z, a generation we are deeply committed to and trying to reach.
What can we do, now?
Keep your words few
Scripture tells us
"When there are many words, wrongdoing is unavoidable,
But one who restrains his lips is wise." Proverbs 10:19
Let's keep watch about how we talk about this. Making jokes or offering rhetoric will, I believe, only compound the division we are already experiencing.
Let kids talk, you listen
Until we have more information on the young man who committed this act, we have only questions, but questions we need to ask,
- Did he have anyone to talk to? Reach out to?
- Did he a safe place for him to express himself?
- Was he angry? Did he have mental health issues?
Your students need a safe place to share. If you're going to talk about this incident, kids need to do most of the talking and you do most of the listening.
Pray for unity
I don't know where your youth group lies politically, but my guess is, it's a mixed bag. Check your Tik Tok and you will find multiple videos of even more Gen Z students sad and angry that the shooter missed.
I'm not talking about praying for political unity or kumbaya good feelings unity, I am urging you to pray for the unity of all believers,
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me John 17:20,21
There is more at stake here than a presidential election, there will be kids who miss heaven because they cannot see heaven in us.
You can win an election and miss the kingdom.
Let's be wise as serpents and gentle as doves in these times.
Blessings,
Paul
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