Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 14th, many students around the country will be participating in a #Walkout in memory of the 17 students who lost their lives at the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida and in civil protest demanding stricter gun laws.
At Westlake, we want to give our secondary students the opportunity to reflect on the tragedy at Parkland, discuss what possible changes we can make in the greater community, and ultimately take time in prayer to call on God, the One who can actually affect change.
While many surrounding schools will be participating in a #walkout, we are choosing to reflect with #17minutesofprayer. We will direct our students through a time of prayer with three different focuses: Repentance - for our sins as a nation and as individuals, Dependence on God – remembering who He is and what He has done, and Petition – asking God to move in us and in our country to affect change. Then, while we are still in the waiting for this change to come, like the people of Judah in 2 Chronicles 20, we will go out praising the Lord, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”
Would you join us tomorrow in prayer tomorrow morning from 8:15 - 9:00? We know that it’s only by God’s power that things begin to change. We don’t want to just meet and pray and remain unchanged. Would you pray that this time is not only impactful on our students for that day, but they would walk away changed and carry this dependence on God into every aspect of their lives.
And would you pray for the faculty, staff, and leadership team of our school? We want to model the appropriate response to tragedy and trial. As Christians, we recognize that we are first citizens of heaven, yet we are called to honor the leaders of our country. Pray that we help shape the students’ mindset to one of respect and honor while giving them a voice to affect change at the government level. We are called to be image bearers and bring the light of Christ to a broken world. Pray that we would help the students to see the power they have as children of God to make a difference in their community.
