Prayer Time

On Wednesday morning, more than 3 million teenagers across the globe are expected to gather at their school flagpole and pray, observing the eighth annual See You at the Pole — National Day of Student Prayer.

This year’s theme, “For Such a Time as This” is in response to the shootings at high schools and junior high schools last year.

See You at the Pole began in 1990 in Texas. Now students in all 50 states participate in the annual event.

A few Inland Northwest students who joined their classmates in prayer last year, share their experiences here.

For more information about See You at the Pole, go to www.syatp.com on the Internet.

See You at the Pole is an event that I always look forward to during the fall. The whole experience of praying and singing praises to God with other classmates is totally awesome. It is so uplifting to see other students who share the same beliefs as me, and who are not scared to express them. See You at the Pole is a great place to meet other Christian friends and encourages me to live my life for Christ. It is so good to have the freedom to publicly display my faith, and it is a great way to witness to other kids my age.

—Justin Pritchard, mt. spokane junior

In choosing to go to a Christian school, I chose to have the privilege of prayer in each class, and the opportunity to worship God with my entire school once a week. When I participated in the See You at the Pole event at my school last year, I realized that prayer in school is a privilege I take for granted every day. This was not a one-time-a-year experience for me, but I realized it was for countless others. I believe the power of prayer is incredible. For millions of teens, to step out of their comfort zones and be bold in joining together to lift up the needs of this nation, is a giant step forward in bringing about a positive change to this country as well as a mark in the effort for world peace.

—Claire A. Paulus, nw christian senior

Last year, five girls huddled around a small flagpole in the rain, praying for their school. Why? Because we knew that God was listening. Prayer can have such a big impact in a single person’s life, so when you are gathered with your fellow classmates hand in hand, not only does it create an overwhelming peace, it also builds confidence. Confidence in knowing that God will hear each prayer and has the power to impact our school in unimaginable ways.

The Bible says that “when two or more are gathered in His name, He is there amongst them.” (Matthew 18:20) The greatest blessing of this National Day of Student Prayer is not only being able to pray with others for the school, but also knowing that our school isn’t in the hands of the principal or the students that meet to pray, or even anyone else’s, because it rests in the hands of God.

If God is for us, who can be against us? Now that’s the power of prayer.

- Kim Jones, University High sophomore

See You at the Pole isn’t anything new. I remember hearing about it when I was in the eighth grade.

I wanted to go, but I was afraid that no one else would be there, and I would be humiliated in front of the whole school.

But last year, my junior year, in the pouring down rain, more than 250 students and adults prayed outside of Shadle Park, and I was one of them.

I would have to say that the experience was one that I will remember throughout my life. It gave me goose bumps to hear all these people who I had only seen in the halls praise my God and pray for our school.

It’s not enough to just say a little prayer and just hope that people know what you believe. Sometimes it takes going out of your comfort zone to show that what you believe is important.

- Karisse Hendrick, Shadle Park senior

What it meant for me to gather at my school’s flag pole was to sort of announce my faith to others. It was a safe and wonderful step for me to make to proclaim where my loyalty was and ask for a safe and fun year.

There was about a large classroom’s size of students in a circle praying for other students and gathering together in Jesus’ name. I say it was wonderful because it did help me take other steps to show Christ’s love on my campus throughout the year.

I can think of no better way to start off the school year or any other event, for that matter, than to start it off with prayer. I encourage everyone to attend on National Day of Student Prayer and see what all the talk is about.

- Paul Aric Spangler, Ferris graduate