Glenn spoke with a dad from Marysville on radio today, in the wake of a deadly school shooting at the high school there. Lance Van Winkle’s daughter texted him as she hid under a desk, reporting that her friend was shot in the head, suddenly something changed in Lance. He explained on radio today.
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Read a rough transcript of the segment below:
GLENN: On Sunday night, right before I turn off the lights, I wrote this on Facebook. I just said my prayers with the kids and tucked them in. Rarely do I remember my prayers with my family being so pleading. For me, the family, those in our military, those in our government, our neighbors, and all those around the world who have never even known hope. Please, Lord, help us. Please help us. I don't need or want any special favors. I don't need my prayers answered my way. Just please, please give us the strength to find joy and to find you in whatever is coming. We have endured many things, but hope to endure all things. And with you, we can and will.
I spent the weekend working on a series of episodes that are going to air on -- beginning November 10th. I'm writing every word of these episodes myself as it is really important to get this right because this is a very personal message from me and from my family. And something that has been coming for five years, but I haven't been able to share it. Haven't been willing to share it. And I didn't know exactly what it was going to mean for our relationship. And where, you know -- what we were going to do.
But because of our relationship, now comes the time that I need to share. And that episode is happening on November 10th on television.
But I wrote on Facebook after I had finished writing some more of those episodes, I wrote: You don't know how much you mean to me and how much you lift my family.
This afternoon, my daughter Hannah had her in-laws -- they were in town. They're so great. They asked us if we would go with them to the air show to see the thunderbirds. So we did.
When I got in, a woman and her son stopped me right at the gate at the air show and said, Glenn Beck, we're such huge fans.
Just that simple kindness brightened my day. She told me that her husband happened to work for the thunderbirds or work with the thunderbirds, and she invited us to go and meet and greet them. It was a thrill for me and the kids.
What happened however was a mini miracle for me. So many things had been verified and answered this weekend. I had been struggling with a few things and wondering what we are to do. Wondering if what we have done in the past has even mattered or if it's just in our heads. We all have jobs to do. How much do each of our jobs actually mean.
This woman told me about how she had volunteered for Restoring Honor, 8/28 in Washington, DC, how it changed her and her family. We spoke together with the jets rolling overhead with tears rolling down our faces about that day and the hope that we lived on and feasted on for so long. I think it's time to gather again.
What I have in my mind makes 8/28 look like a birthday party, but I would ask for you to pray and join me as I lay some ideas down at your feet soon.
But what I really want to tell you is I love you. And I really thank you for making my life so complete. We don't really have many friends. But it seems that no matter where we go, we're always surrounded by family.
I wrote that about 11 o'clock at night on Sunday. The next morning I get up and I see this from a guy named Lance Van Winkle.
Lance wrote and said, please, all of you, pray for us in Marysville, Washington. Glenn, I wish I could so sit and talk with you. I'm only one man, a man your recent reaffirming new direction has changed.
I'm moving away from divisiveness and moving towards God will. Your decision started me thinking the events in my town made me realize, it really is the only way. When my daughter called and then texted me and said she was under a desk hiding and that her friend had been shot in the head, I was really done. My son also goes to that high school. We didn't know where he was at. I was terrified.
I had the means to protect myself, and there was nothing I could do. I was utterly and totally helpless. I felt a little like I did in 9/11, except I had family and friends in the building. My kids were safe, but that tragedy made me think of Glenn and his solution. It's been there all along. Thy will, not mine be done. Pray all of you that you never have a day like we had in Marysville. Prayers and thoughts that those who have had that day, God bless you.
This has bothered -- not bothered me -- stuck with me since I read it. Early Monday morning. I thought of Lance last night as I was saying my prayers. We went to the football game here, the Redskins/Cowboys. It was about 11:30 by the time we got home. My son went upstairs to go to bed. Said our prayers. And Lance came to mind. He came to mind again this morning as I was saying my prayers. He said, I wish I could just sit and talk with you.
I asked Keith to get him on the phone. He's on the phone now.
Lance, how are you?
LANCE: I'm okay, Glenn. Good morning.
GLENN: How are things?
LANCE: Things are okay. It's just very emotional for me. And speaking to you and your audience, I never thought anything like this would happen. It was kind of funny. I was watching the game last night, and sorry about the deal, but I know that you were there. And I was thinking about you being there, and I almost mentioned it. I almost said, Glenn Beck is at that game. But everybody would have looked at me like, what? So I kept it to myself. But I was thinking of it there.
My kids are doing well. My daughter is kind of taking a leadership role. She took some friends to the Space Needle last night. She's trying to help as many people as she can. Just talking to them. Being with them. It's -- you know, everybody seems to be doing well. The community has totally blown me away with the support and what they're doing to help everybody get through this.
I saw a thing with the Seahawks praying for our students, and I just found out last night that Pete Carroll invited the Marysville-Pilchuck high school football team and also the Oak Harbor football team that were supposed to play Friday night down to an extended practice at the Seahawk facilities. And I've never witnessed anything like this so close. I've seen it, of course, like everybody has in other situations.
But it's -- it's a beautiful thing, you know.
GLENN: I will tell you: Lance, I don't know you keep coming to mind, but I'm glad we have this chance to talk. When I read your letter and you talked about how your daughter had called and then texted that she was under a desk, did she -- and I don't need to get into anything you don't want to discuss, but did she see her friend shot? How far away was she?
LANCE: No. She didn't, thank God. I know some kids -- this is a community that's grown a lot, but it's a small hometown field community.
GLENN: I grew up in Mount Vernon, which is not far away. So I group up in Mount Vernon, and we used to pass Marysville. And Marysville was just this small little town. I'm not surprised that the community is reacting this way, but maybe it's changed -- it had to have. It's been 30 years. But it used to be just a small little town where everybody would treat you right.
LANCE: It's -- you know, the stories are starting to come out, and Maria didn't see anything. She was out of the lunchroom. Of course, it's also came out that this was planned and premeditated, which is just horrific to me.
You know, the reservation, the Tulalip Indian reservation is right across Interstate 5 from us. And it's tied to the community, I mean, in a real deep way. I know a lot of Native Americans over there. It's -- we're always doing things together as a community and everything else.
And so when this happened, of course, it -- who knows what -- what people think. I hear a lot of things. I read a lot of things that are just awful. I know some kids that were there and saw it happen. They're remodeling the lunchroom. The school shut down for a week because I know several kids that would never go back in there again.
GLENN: I can't imagine.
LANCE: Yeah. And I don't know what to think. I don't have any answers for this. It just totally -- I'm just one guy in the community that feels the same way. Of course, we have families that lost loved ones. They're still in the hospital. My prayers go out for them, you know.
GLENN: So, Lance, help me out on this. You wrote: I'm just one man, a man your recent, reaffirming new direction has changed. I'm moving away from divisiveness and moving towards God's will. You wrote that when the tragedy happened, you thought of -- you thought of what we've been talking on the program. Can you tell me a little about that?
LANCE: Sure. I had been listening to you for some time. And, you know, I got to be careful. I don't want to go off on some weird rant. But I love the United States of America. I love our country. I feel it's being attacked from every which direction. Culture, language, borders, everything. But I -- and I've listened to your show.
I've enjoyed the controversies and the, you know, calling different sides out on the carpet. Whatever. The whole back and forth thing that goes on. And I've listened recently -- of course, it's well-known you've changed a direction. And it stopped me. I went, wow. And at first -- and I heard -- I mean, I heard while people thought -- were calling Glenn Beck, well, now he's a traitor and all this stuff, you know. And I just thought that that was a huge honorable thing to do in such a public life that you have. And to apologize and to -- I mean, it was just humble.
And so this was going on in the back of my mind. And I've had a lot of rants myself on Facebook sharing posts about this, that, the other thing.
GLENN: Right.
LANCE: And then this school thing happened. And I was sitting at my desk looking out the window of our office. I'm a real estate agent. And I get this call that's kind of broken up. And then pretty soon, my daughter and I are texting. And, as you know, what was said, she had described where she's hiding under a desk. Nobody knew about it. There were no sirens yet. There were no helicopters overhead. Her mom didn't even know. Then she texted me that her friend was shot in the head. And my world just kind of collapsed.
It was -- the only thing I can liken it to is that 9/11 event. I remember that so clearly and how it felt. And so I'm heading up to the school. I get up there. And they've got a perimeter set up. Nobody is getting in. I call my daughter's mom. We meet around the other side. We walk to a church where they're already assembling. Things went pretty fast after that. The whole event took about four minutes. They were assembling in a church nearby. And I -- our daughter and her mother were already at the church. I parked four blocks away. And was walking toward the church, and the -- it seemed like half of Marysville was there.
And the streams of people heading to the church and the frantic women and just the whole thing. I get there and we haven't seen our son yet. We had word that he was okay. So I waited outside for him to get out of the bus. And he's 6'4" and 15 years old, so he's not hard to spot. But he comes -- we're in the middle of this huge crowd of people being reunited with their children, and all this thing going on, I just realized, there's no answer for it. I don't have an answer for it. I don't have an explanation. I read all the posts. I see the anger, the frustration the hate. I see the tribal members come forth and they're talking about forgiveness and love. There are families and victims of the shooting have forgiven the person that shot their family members. And it started to sink in. It just hit me that the only answer is not on this earth.
And I've been a spiritual person for a long time. I believe in the Lord, but it never sunk in like this, that that's the only way. There is no other way. And, you know --
GLENN: Lance, I have to tell you. It's an honor to talk to you. And I'm so glad that you wrote and you posted that on my Facebook page. And you're one of the good guys, and you're now -- now your responsibility to be a force for good because you're awake. I'm sorry it took this to really have it set in, but thank goodness it did. Thank goodness it did. God bless you, lance. You and your whole community.
LANCE: Glenn, can I say something. It means a lot to me that I know you're bombarded with everything all the time. And it means a lot to me to know that you picked it up and listened. It's an honor to speak with you. I love you guys. You guys crack me up. I'm one of the guys driving down the road and people are looking at me as I'm laughing and talking to myself when I'm listening to your show. I've enjoyed it for a long time and believe you're a force of good in this world and you're making a difference in a big way. And so thank you also.
GLENN: Thank you God bless you. Thanks, Lance. Good people. We are surrounded by good people.
