Teenagers do crazy things all the time that make us all shake our heads. I know I sure did. I remember the time, I felt it was important for me to stand up during lunch in the middle of our High School cafeteria and preach the Gospel to the students there. That action of course, led to me being dragged out of the lunch room by the school resource officer and principle… Anyways, back to my point. Like I said, students do things all the time that they feel is important but leave us “adults” shaking out heads. But I’ve never seen the actions of students cause so much anger and hostility like the Walk Out did on March 14^th. Perhaps people feel that what students did that day was hang out America’s dirty laundry for everyone to see and people don’t like it.

Their actions whether you agree with them or not, exposed a very real and troubling reality in our nation. There have been 18 school shootings in our nation since January 1. That’s embarrassing and no one wants to talk about it. This is America. We have been told that this is supposedly the greatest country in the world. I have to agree. That does raise the question however, if this is the greatest nation on the planet to live in, why then do we also have one of the highest number of school shootings?

It really does show up as a bad mark on our legacy. What students did on March 14^th was (at least from my perspective) cast a light on a very real problem in our nation. Wherever you stand on guns, kids dying almost every week in schools is an issue that needs to addressed and fixed. Kind of like domestic violence and the drug epidemic in Tyrrell County. It’s like our dirty laundry that no one wants to talk about but it needs to be addressed and fixed. Some people want to assume this is Mayberry when for so many people living here, it’s not.

We need people like our passionate students to cast a light on the issues in our community and do something about it. I’m sure everyone has an opinion on how that should be done, just as they do with gun violence. Me personally, when it comes to the violence in schools and these issues in our community, I believe the best solution is to get back to praying together as a community, preaching the Gospel with passion, and exhorting one another to study and live the Word of God.

I can only imagine the shift that would take place in the spiritual realm if churches and civic leaders in Tyrrell County set aside just one night a month to come together to pray for our community and nation. There is real spiritual warfare taking place in Tyrrell County because Satan knows that God has put great people here with powerful resources and amazing potential to make a difference in our nation and even world. All of us coming together to pray would go a long way to destroy the enemy’s plans.

It has been said, “This is not a _____ issue, this is a heart issue.” The only thing that will change people’s hearts is the Gospel of Jesus Christ reinforced by a life given to modeling the Word of God. It is time for “playing church” to stop. We need to preach and teach for life change and community transformation. This above any action, petition, protest, or even new law, is our only hope.