Did you know that the school bus was originally created in 1892, and it was technically a horse-drawn school car? The school bus has clearly gone through many design changes over the year, except for one feature. Can you guess what that feature is? The back door! Originally, the back door was created so that the kids could safely get off the bus without scaring the horses. The back door still exists today as an element of safety. The difference is, horses typically aren’t the threat. Today, the threat is us—other drivers on the road. The school bus, unlike any other passenger vehicle, is designed with one priority in mind: to get the kids safely to school and safely home. You can help make this happen.
I would like to take this moment to offer up a public service announcement: You must stop when a school bus is letting kids on and off the bus! It is getting to be that season again when you are going to see an influx of those big yellow busses. They might slow down your morning routine and your evening one. They might be loud, slow, and take up more space on the narrow streets than you are comfortable with. However, they carry our kids. Please work with the school bus drivers, who are often under-appreciated, to make sure their job is done well. Please pray for the school bus drivers. Please pray for the transportation systems that make the schedules and respond to unforeseen weather delays, accidents, or people problems. Please pray for the mechanics who care for the upkeep of the busses. Please pray for our kids, as the bus offers a unique opportunity to make friends or to be bullied by them. Please pray.
Pray for all of those who are headed back to school. Regardless of age or grade, pray for the students. Pray for the teachers. Pray for the administrators, the custodians, the support staff, the maintenance crew, the security teams, the buildings, machines, and equipment. Pray for any facet of the educational realm you can think of. Pray for the parents, the guardians, those responsible for the care of getting kids ready for school and helping them do their homework. Pray.
Extend that prayer to our Vacation Bible School. Pray that, even though they don’t read the Bible in school, we are equipping kids to be the Bible in school. Pray for God’s light to shine and God’s name to be praised. In this prayer, we aren’t just moving mountains in the present; we are helping to create pathways for the future to be more a reflection of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.
From one light to another,
Pastor Hannah Loughman
Photo by Ty Hatch