03.28.05

Monday (03.21.05), in Red Lake, Minnesota there was another school shooting killing one teacher, a school security guard, five students and wounding 7 others before the gunman took his own life. Before arriving at the school Jeff Wiese also apparently killed his grandfather and his grandfather‘s companion.

This week I will be continuing to resend devotionals written in response to previous school shootings and similar tragedies in the hope that other such tragedies might be prevented.

Biting Back
(Originally sent 03-01-00)

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. - Ephesians 4:32.

In Davenport, Iowa a woman has a new approach to avoiding a speeding ticket. Her method is biting the deputy. She refused to sign the ticket and when the deputy attempted to arrest her she bit him on the arm. She has been given 60 days in jail and a $1000.00 fine. While I was a parole officer I had a client who was also in trouble for biting. It seems officers were attempting to arrest him and turned their police dog loose on him. However, my client bit and severely injured the police dog. He was arrested on several charges including injury to a police officer (the dog).

Human nature seems to enjoy violence and if someone slights us in some way we want to have revenge. We see it with the shooting of six year old Kayla Roland in Michigan by her six year old classmate. Horrifying as it is we can see human nature rearing its ugly head. Reportedly there was some sort of scuffle or quarrel between the two the day before (It is not my intention to infer that Kayla did anything wrong. After all Kayla was only six years old.). Human nature just wants to reach out and bite all those it can.

The sad situation in Michigan shows that it is never too early to begin to teach children Biblical principles. The most effective way of doing that is by example. They learn best by seeing us being kind, forgiving, and tenderhearted toward them and others. On the other hand if they always see us biting back at them and others that is how they most likely will respond as well.

Today is there someone you want to reach out and bite? Don’t do it! Instead be kind; be tenderhearted, and forgiving. Just maybe they will pass it on to someone else.