It’s Friday, time for an uplifting story to end the week.
Jesus taught us that the peacemaker is blessed and that is true for a middle school councilor who is being lauded as a hero because she talked a student at Sycamore Middle School in Ashland City, TN into giving her his gun instead of him killing teachers and a school policeman.
Molly Hudgens spoke with the 14-year-old student when he came into to her office asking for her help to talk him out of committing murder and adding to the ever-growing list of school shootings.
As their conversation began on Wednesday morning Hudgens was bold enough to ask the student if he had a gun with him. When he admitted that he did, he showed her where he had it tucked into his waistband.
What makes the school councilor a hero and a peacemaker is that she disregarded her own safety and continued to engage the student when she could have ran for the doors. She managed to text for help as she was talking with him and eventually convinced him to hand over his gun.
Molly Hudgens did have training in dealing with armed students but training is only part of the equation, there must be a willingness to be a peacemaker even at the risk of your own life.
The bible teaches that disciples of Jesus Christ are to make peace in marriages, peace in families and in churches but we often do not understand the biblical meaning of peace. Peace is not the absence of conflict but destroying the authority of chaos or sin.
When the school councilor spent 45 minutes listening and persuading the 14 year old to give up his gun she was directly challenging the sin of murder in his heart and convincing him that life was a better choice.
We should go into the weekend considering how to bring peace to the lives of others, like Aaron the brother of Moses we should be looking for ways to bring reconciliation between people and the Lord and between other people.
Aaron would always try to find ways to mend broken relationships, especially marriages. In fact, he brought peace to so many marriages that Aaron was the most popular name for children as the couples named their children for the first high priest that restored peace to their marriage.
Be sure this weekend to be a peacemaker not only for the relationships you have but for the relationships of others. Refrain from gossip and running down people behind their back and to their face. Instead build others up and don’t repeat the hurtful words spoken by people having strife.
Make an effort to bring joy, avoid creating contention and guide the conversation away from running down other people even when you think they deserve it.
Be a peacemaker.
