{"id":39269,"date":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/black-teenager-seeks-directions-receives-gunshot\/"},"modified":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T00:00:00","slug":"black-teenager-seeks-directions-receives-gunshot","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/black-teenager-seeks-directions-receives-gunshot\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Teenager Seeks Directions, Receives Gunshot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fourteen-year-old Brennan Walker missed his bus and lost his sense of direction. Unfortunately, he almost lost his life. Instructed by his mother to walk to school after he overslept and missed his bus, Walker did his best to walk the route normally taken by his bus. However, when he was unsure of which direction to take, and did not have use of his phone, he took a logical step by stopping by a local residence to ask for directions.<\/p>\n\n

Walker described the interaction in his own words.<\/p>\n\n

\n

I got to the house, and I knocked on the lady's door. Then she started yelling at me and she was like, "Why are you trying to break into my house?" I was trying to explain to her that I was trying to get directions to Rochester High. And she kept yelling at me. Then the guy came downstairs, and he grabbed the gun, I saw it and started to run. And that's when I heard the gunshot.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Walker's mom, Lisa Wright, expressed what we all long for in this broken and fallen world: "We should not have to live in a society where we have to fend for ourselves. If I have a question, I should be able to turn to my village and knock on a door and ask a question. I shouldn't be fearful of a child, let alone a skin tone."<\/p>\n\n

Potential Preaching Angles: We are judged not by how we treat royalty, but how we treat our neighbors. When fear overrides our ability to extend compassion, we deny the humanity in each other<\/em>.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3526,3644,3977,3979,4095,4170,4181,4250,4315,4535,4546,4761,5117],"tax_ctp_topics":[395],"class_list":["post-39269","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-brotherly-love","tax_ctp_tags-community","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-death","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-man","tax_ctp_tags-great-commandment","tax_ctp_tags-hospitality","tax_ctp_tags-human-nature","tax_ctp_tags-injustice","tax_ctp_tags-justice","tax_ctp_tags-neighbor","tax_ctp_tags-news-that-illustrates","tax_ctp_tags-racism","tax_ctp_tags-suspicion"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nBlack Teenager Seeks Directions, Receives Gunshot - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/black-teenager-seeks-directions-receives-gunshot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Teenager Seeks Directions, Receives Gunshot - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fourteen-year-old Brennan Walker missed his bus and lost his sense of direction. 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