Written by Leneita Fixwww.blueskygreensky.com8:30 PM. Knock on the do - PDF document

Written by Leneita Fixwww.blueskygreensky.com8:30 PM. Knock on the door. There stands a young man that we don’t know so well. Yet, still there he is. We Knowing that he is our neighbor’s grandson, John felt like taking him home was the right thing to do. Even though he lived clear across town. The busses had stopped running for the day at that point.story for another day.Then it tumbled out of his mouth. As if he were telling you the grades on a report card that he was a little put off by.“My sister was shot and killed two weeks ago. Yeah, she got up in the face of some guys and they shot her and killed her.”There it was. It hung in the air with a staleness. He stared with indifference, while our minds raced.John took him home. The young man had no problem laying out all of the details of the crime, however, his emotions did not seem to connect correctly. There was no remorse. No grief. No anger.Just numbness, indifference and a nonchalance.seem so nonchalant about his sister’s death?It could be because he didn’t know her well. She was quite a bit older than he was. There is a good chance that she grew up in a different household than he did, as I don’t believe his Mom or Dad have ever been are looking for a response from me? Do they want to test to see if I am going to be shocked? There are times The National Institute of Health conducted a study of what urban youth consider a “traumatic” event. The highest response over and again was witnessing, violence either with a family or non family member.zone. There is no indication that the size of the city or the depth of the traumas matter. What matters is that they are dipped into a daily mode of “surviving to get by.” The combination of stressors is great.Many believe that these students and their families are dealing with highly undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. One of the symptom of PTSD? Emotional numbness.We see the other symptoms as well. Agitation. Fear. Anxiety. Depression. The list goes on.Here is what I found interesting as I set out to read about these issues. Basically, we need to convince a population that they need treatment. Yet, when some scholars believe that this is a generational issue, where number, it is all disheartening.If you have a mental health degree or are an educator or a researcher, you just might know exactly where to begin. The rest of us are muddling by with the reality that we just have no idea how to respond. For every family that we can convince to enter counseling or treatment there are many many more whose pride tells you, “I can handle it.” Well because everyone else is handling it.Enter into relationship... with the whole family. Getting to know the youth, and their entire family dynamic helps us to know what is really going on. This doesn’t mean we will become the BFF to all entities, Healthy family dynamics. One of the greatest ways that children can grow up different is through a strong support system. We may need to help parents and children see hope. We may need to show them that there are other ways. We may even need to “become the change,” that lets them know in Christ there is a different way. It doesn’t have to be this way. Be creative. Start a parent and child Bible study. Offer a parenting class. ASK the parents and the kids what they need and then seek to �ll that need. Show them that Christ really can bring a change, into each heart. You may not be able to promise that the whole neighborhood will be different, but Jesus can and will transform us one heart at a time. Do not attempt to go this route of helping alone. There will need to be others in the mix who might need to engage in deeper relationships. There might be programs within your church like, “Celebrate Recovery,” or “Life Hurts God Heals,” with people who can talk to speci�c issues. There might be a local to create a safe place for youth and their family to begin healing. This needs to be the whole body drawing together to see a problem and seek a difference. a red �ag within us, then we need to check ourselves. We should never be nonchalant when a student tells us Christ’s compassion moves us to action. We should want to see that change. Finally, never, ever forget that Christ does not give up. He is moving. He is working. These scenarios hurt his “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but Written by Leneita Fixwww.blueskygreensky.com