There are no Atheists in Foxholes

By Bruce Lindsay

“GET DOWN AND STAY DOWN! Get away from the windows! Everyone get under your desks and stay there.” The teacher closed the blinds, turned off the lights and asked the students for quiet.

This week a disturbing event happened in Peterborough. Police swarmed a neighborhood to hunt 4 armed suspects. It was Thursday at roughly 2:30 pm when the 2 Public Schools (St. Patrick’s School and Otonabee Valley Public School) were locked down. By 3 pm parents were arriving to pick up their children and Emergency Response Police were telling them to get down. For more on the story, check out the Links below.

The 2 schools became a ‘war zone’. In talking to a friend who has a daughter in grade 3 (8 years old) he said his little girl had to kneel under her desk for an hour and a half. During that time, with all the children quiet and full of fear, her teacher prayed. Teachers inside the schools had their students wait until 4 pm before being given the OK to send the children home. During this anxious waiting time, I know some of the parents were praying too.

It’s a scary story but instantly brought to mind a bunch of Bible stories. 2 Choronicles 14: 11 Where King Asa cries out to God, … “Lord it is nothing for you to help whether with many or with those who have no power…” Then 2 Choronicles 20: 5-12 Jehoshaphat humbled himself and prayed for help. Remember when Jonah was in the boat, Jonah 1:5 “Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god … So the captain came to Jonah and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

That’s to say nothing of the numerous times in the New Testament that the disciples went to Jesus and found comfort just knowing he was there and in control of the stormy situation.

I found comfort knowing that teachers still pray in school. The popular thought is that organized religion has no place in our schools. Instead students are taught simple values that are commonly recognized as positive in our society: Respect, responsibility, honesty, empathy, fairness, initiative, perseverance, courage, optimism and others. It’s a politically correct line which keeps them out of trouble. Let’s face it, there would be no objection if all of our children held these values and were taught them.

In our last Provincial election, the Conservative party platform included public funding for Private Schools. The idea went over like a lead balloon with the general public, because most Private Schools are Religious Schools. The idea that Joe tax payer is paying for the Jewish kid to learn Hebrew or the Moslem kid to learn Arabic is totally UN-CANADIAN! We see value in having the Jewish boy sit next to the Moslem boy, and the Greek girl sitting next to the Turkish girl, the Korean girl sitting next to the Japanese girl. Add any two historic enemies here. (The fact that Catholics still sit by themselves in their own school is another story.) But to stop any objection by their parents, prayer was taken out of schools. Now we all get along – most days.

But Thursday was not like most days. An armed gang was in the area and everyone was afraid. When your life is on the line, we still pray. I think of those children under their desks as soldiers hiding in their foxholes while the artillery is booming away, each little person, unsure of their safety, unsure of their future, looking to their Captain. The Captain led them in prayer.

My prayer is that that teacher’s prayer will be remembered by those children. I pray that her prayer will take root in their memory, so that those children will learn there is One who hears and answers our prayer for help.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Resource
http://www.mykawartha.com/news/article/25221
and

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=865425&auth=FIONA+ISAACSON%2fExaminer+Staff+Write

NOTE:
Great article Bruce!

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~