|
A pastor
read a letter from an elementary school teacher who attends East
Hill Church. The gist of the letter was as follows:
Last
school year, her classroom was made up of little third graders,
every one of which came from either a single parent family, or a
dysfunctional family, was undernourished and/or not cared for,
lived in an abusive home, and was either beaten, bruised, or raped
by other family members; one little girl's dad died of aids, and
the list goes on.
Her heart
bled for these kids. Before the '99-2000 school year started, she
and her husband went to her classroom and prayed over each desk in
the room. They prayed that God would place an angel behind each
and every child throughout the coming year to watch over them and
protect them.
A month or
so after the year had started; she gave the kids an assignment to
write about what they would like to be when they grew up.
Everybody was busy with his or her assignment, when Andrew raised
his hand.
When she
asked him what he needed, he asked how to spell "mighty." After
telling him how to spell mighty, she asked him why he needed to
know. Andrew said it was because when he grew up he wanted to be a
"mighty man of God."
When he
said this, little Mark, sitting next to him asked, "So, what's a
mighty man of God?"
The
teacher, swallowing back her tears, and knowing she could not say
anything in the classroom, told Andrew to go ahead and tell Mark
what it was.
So Andrew
says, "It's a man who puts on the armor of God and is a soldier
for God." After observing some conversation between Andrew and
Mark, the teacher, with a lump in her throat, started to walk away
when Andrew motioned with his little forefinger for her to come
closer. He whispered to her, asking if she believed in angels. She
told him yes, she did.
Then he
asked her if she thought people could see angels, and she said she
thought some people probably could. Andrew said that he did, and
he could see an angel standing behind each kid in the room. I
don't think there was a dry eye in the church that night!
We need to
remember to pray for all of the teachers, and that the ban on
praying in public schools and gatherings be lifted.
|
