A pastor read a
letter to his congregation, 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 dysfunction al family, was undernourished and/or un-cared for. Many children
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, that although there is no prayer in school, that they
are dedicated enough to pray for the protection of God's angels over the
lives of their students. Maybe it wouldn't hurt, even at work.
