Yesterday was “See You at the Pole” day at school, a national day that is set aside for young Christian students to gather around their school flag poles and pray. I thought “well it’s just another one of those get-togethers for believers” but I didn’t expect it to be so empowering.

Out of 2500 students at Union High School where I attend, only 30 went to showed up at the pole to express their faith publicly.

The day started with a brilliant sunrise of fiery red and orange with the voices of 30 students and one police officer singing the national anthem. It was beautiful. Our campus police officer, Mr. Reynolds, began to pray.  He prayed for our safety this year and he thanked the Lord for our courage and strength to be there, to show our peers our beliefs. We went around thanking the Lord for so many believers that were there with us. As we prayed, our fellow classmates walked passed us checking us out and whispering in hushed tones as we prayed for their safety and that they would come to know Him. I saw my “good Christian” friends walk past us without slowing, and I wondered why they did not stop, I wondered if they were afraid. But there was one boy who didn’t keep walking, he stepped into our circle around the flag pole and prayed with us, lets call him Tim. It made me want to cry because Tim has come so far to be there that day with us, he has fought an addiction to pot, his parents lack of support, and so much more, and the fact that he would show up and start to pray publicly made me want to cry. His bravery and passion for his faith amazed me; I thanked the Lord for my friend.

Soon after, the special education bus pulled up in front of the flag pole. And one girl about half my height who suffered form Down syndrome asked Mr. Reynolds what we were doing. He replied “we are praying.” She asked him if she could pray too. So Mr. Reynolds took her by the hand and whispered the words to say into her ear. They went something like this, “Thank you Lord that we can be here today, I pray that we are safe, in Jesus’ name, Amen” then the little girl left with her mother. Mr. Reynolds began to sing “Amazing Grace”, and every voice joined in as we praised the Lord for this great life He has given us. We shared scripture as we prayed.

Then one of the boys from my youth group pulled out his guitar and another pulled out a djembe and started to play. We sang “I’ll Stand”, and lifted our hands to the heavens to the Lord. As soon as we finished singing we looked at the clock, it was 7:45, class had already started, but for some reason, no one seemed to care that we were tardy. So off we went to class, amazed by what God had done around that flag pole.