God is MIA from school?

This post has been brewing all week. I'm not sure that I can get everything from the tangled mess of my noggin onto this page but I'm going to give it a shot because I'm weary of media.

Last Friday, a tragedy struck in Connecticut. I can't imagine the loss that those families feel. Yes, I've lost a child but I knew it was coming. It's completely different. Those parents put their babies on buses to school Friday morning and headed off for their normal routines not having a clue that they'd said their last good-byes.

Since Friday, the media has been swamped with coverage of the catastrophe. I can't watch any of it. I've yet to hear a full report. My stomach knots up and the what-if monsters start creeping out. It's just too much.

However, the one thing about the whole situation that has made my blood boil is the constant postings across social media saying that the whole thing happened because we took God out of school. Really?

Let me tell you what I know about the God that I serve. He is NOT something that is boxed up and only released into sacred places. He is everywhere. He is omnipresent. God was in that school building on Friday morning. He knew exactly what was happening. He was there when that teacher was shoving her kids into cabinets. He was there when those parents were standing outside the school building. Just because his presence wasn't audibly announced over a loud speaker and pictures of Him weren't posted on the walls does not mean that He wasn't there.

I can tell you that I work in a public school with over 1,200 kids and God is there. There are teachers who pray for their students daily. There are parents that pray for their teachers daily. There are students who utilize the moment of silence to invite Him to travel their day with them. No. We don't have crucifixes on the walls and say a collective prayer each day. However, please don't tell me that God is not in our school. Boloney. 

The Newtown disaster did not happen because God had taken a vacation from the building. He was there. For those who don't believe in God, think about it this way. If your baby was in a dark closet hearing gun shots and people screaming, wouldn't you find yourself praying that God would protect them? So many people don't want to believe in Him because they are afraid of handing over their day to day affairs. But, when tragedy strikes, everyone suddenly wants to believe. God sure seems to be more popular in times of crisis such as 911, Columbine, and Newtown. But, He's there to do the day to day business with us. Even the little stuff. He knew when I had to pee today but didn't want to climb over folks to get out of the training I was in. He knew about my tears tonight as the kids left with Eric. He knows my greatest fears and my smallest ones (goats chasing me). I've been told that I'm uneducated and immature for believing this way and having blind faith. Well, that's fine. Look at it this way. Let's say that I am wrong about this whole God thing, what do I have to lose? What if I'm right and you're wrong? What do you have to lose?

I have no need to preach. I'll leave that to the professionals. I just need folks to stop saying that God has been taken out of public schools. That's not true. He is there. Over sixty staff members at our school have shown up 30 minutes early every day this week just to offer support for our students. Do we get paid extra? Nope. I sat through a training today about deescalating potentially dangerous situations with students in hopes that I'll never have to use those skills but I did it to protect my babies. Do those things all point to God? No. But, they do point to a lot of people with servants' hearts who want to love on these babies and show them how much we care about them. Many of us do that knowing that the love we have from Him is what we're able to pass on to our students.

OK. I feel better now. Thanks for letting me air that out. Until they empty out our school building of a large portion of the parents, students, and staff, God will be there. In fact, He'll still be in that building even if they drag every last believer out of there. So, put that in your pipe and smoke it. (Ooo. That sounded sort of irreverent).

Good night, all.