Paper Prayer Requests

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, September 28.

By Andrew McChesney

J

erry hasn’t said a word since he arrived on the first day of school.

Dressed in festive white, pink, black, and gray colors, he sits silently on a table in the third-grade classroom of a Seventh-day Adventist school on the island of Dominica.

Jerry usually only gets off the table when someone prays.

When teacher prays, she holds him for a minute or two.

When a third-grade boy prays, he holds him.

When a third-grade girl prays, she holds him.

When a visitor comes to the classroom and prays, the visitor holds him.

You’ve probably guessed that Jerry isn’t a normal boy. Jerry is a square cookie box wrapped in bright wrapping paper. Even though he can’t say a word, he is filled with many important words written on pieces of paper.

Each of those papers contains a silent prayer request.

It all started on the first day of class. Teacher carried the wrapped-up box into the school and showed it to the children.

“This is a time capsule,” she said.

Then she passed out yellow and green pieces of paper.

“On your paper, write your name and something that you would like to pray about this school term,” she said.

After the children finished writing, the papers were placed in the box, and the box was sealed. Teacher said the class would open the box at the end of the school year to see how God had answered their prayers.

Then 9-year-old Zyane raised his hand.

“Can we name the time capsule?” he asked.

When the teacher nodded her head, he exclaimed, “Jerry, the time capsule!”

All the children burst into applause and cheered.

Zyane was the first person to pick up Jerry and pray over the box.

“Dear God, thank You for Jerry,” he said.

As the weeks and months passed, other children also took turns holding Jerry and praying.

“Help us to achieve our goals,” one prayed.

“Make our wishes come true,” prayed another.

When guests like the school principal, pastors, and church leaders visited the classroom, the children asked them to hold the box and pray.

The children wondered if God would answer their prayers. They didn’t have to wait until the end of the school year to find out.

Halfway through the school year, 8-year-old Sarah waved her hand in the air.

“Miss! Miss! I have something to say,” she said.

“What is it?” Teacher asked.

Sarah said God had answered the prayer request that she had written on a piece of paper inside of Jerry.

“I want to thank God because I wrote on my paper that I wanted to be able to read, and my reading has improved,” she said. “I’m reading better.”

Then a number of little hands shot up into the air in the classroom. More children had stories of God answering their prayers.

Eight-year-old Amber said that she had prayed to get straight A’s, and she was getting straight A’s.

“I’m going to keep praying,” she said.

Eight-year-old Kahmar said that he had prayed to see his father. He hadn’t seen his father since he was 3 because he lived on another island. But then Father surprised him by showing up on a recent weekend.

“I was so surprised,” Kahmar said. “I even cried.”

The two went fishing together. They visited the beach and went kayaking. On a hike, Kahmar saw something brown, like a stick, on the trail. When he ran over to look, he saw that it was the tail of an iguana! It had been a wonderful weekend with Father.

When the children’s praises ended, Teacher bowed her head and offered a prayer of thanksgiving.

“As Jesus said, ‘All things are possible to him who believes,’” she said.

She was reciting from Mark 9:23.

Jerry is only a box. He can’t speak. But God heard the silent prayer requests tucked inside of him. The third-grade class is eagerly waiting for the end of the school year to find out which other prayer requests God is going to answer.

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist Primary School, where the children are praying for a new and larger building. A bigger school will allow more children to learn about the God who answers prayers. TheThirteenth Sabbath Offering also will help open two centers of influence for at-risk children in Colombia, a center of influence for at-risk children in Costa Rica, and two centers of influence to reach upper-class people in Mexico. Thank you for your generous offering today.