The Lord Reaches Out to a Bully

You could feel the tension as Brock looked around at the 950 middle school students in Arkansas a couple of weeks ago. He had done his normal school message about making the right choices and was now addressing bullying. That's what the school leadership wanted him to speak about. Brock told me, "You cannot stop bullying by one assembly, but I'll talk about it and hope it helps." So, he asked these young people who was a bully and he waited to see if there was a response. After an uncomfortable silence, one sixth grade boy stood up. There are big, tough guy bullies and there are small guys with a complex who are bullies. This boy was the latter. Brock told him to come to the center of the gym and stand beside him. The boy boldly did so. Brock with his 6'4" stance towered over the small boy. Then, something happened. Brock got down on one knee and looked the young man in the eye. He tenderly asked him if bullying was satisfying him. The boy's smirk disappeared as he said, "No." Brock then began to speak to him in front of the whole school. The Lord got all over the boy. Even though Brock didn't talk about God whatsoever, the Holy Spirit inside Brock was oozing out onto this boy. His whole demeanor began to change. At one point, this bully almost broke down crying because his heart was so touched. Brock then said, "Do you want to change?" The boy shook his head in the affirmative. Brock said, "There is hope. There is a group of people in your sixth grade class that will hold you accountable." He then told him how proud he was that he was willing to change. He had the rest of the audience clap for him for his bravery in coming up there and then wanting to change. The whole school exploded in applause! Some people stood to their feet. Others were hooping and hollering. It was like a scene from a movie! Brock's right. We are not going to be able to stop bullying on our own, but the Lord can do anything!