It must have seemed odd as motorists drove past Lake Minneola High School seeing a young tall lanky teenager standing alone and upright in front of his school’s flag pole with his head bowed.
In fact, the image of the young teen standing alone in deep contemplation had apparently inspired a few motorists and passerby’s to stop and snap few photo’s on their cell-phones. The young teenager was seemingly praying quietly.
One individual was so moved he commented to a friend, “I commend the young man that stood alone at Lake Minneola High School’s ‘See You at the Pole Day.’ I welled up with tears, happy tears, and proud tears.”
He added, “I honestly didn’t know that it was today until after I had left and heard it on the radio. Please take a moment today to pray for our children, school, teachers, and administrators. Pray for protection over them, guidance, wisdom, and a wonderfully blessed year.”
Of course, within a matter of moments the photos were instantly downloaded onto Facebook for all to see within the closely knit Florida community.
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No one knew or recognized the young lad perhaps because his head was bowed in prayer. However, the news quickly spread on the internet regarding the mysterious young teen who most assuredly was a student at the high school.
Stacey Philpot, a stay-at-home blogger, received a text regarding the young teen from a friend who urged Philpot to take a look at the photos of the young teen alone at the flagpole. The friend thought perhaps it would make a good human interest story.
Stacey had just decided to take a much needed break away from pounding the keyboards on social media. She looked at her friend’s urgent text that she “wouldn’t want to miss,” what was apparently becoming an important news story on the internet.
At first Stacey didn’t recognize the image of a lone teenage boy standing at a flagpole with his head bowed. She quickly enlarged the photo to get a clearer view of the image and was instantly astonished. The young teenager that everyone was talking about was her own son.
“The little boy I’d rocked to sleep in blue airplane pajamas when he was sick. The toddler who loved Elmo and couldn’t go to sleep without holding his Veggie Tales characters in his hands had captured the attention of our community by standing alone, by doing everything we’d ever taught him, everything we’d ever hoped he would do,” Stacey said. “I was completely undone.”
Proud mom immediately reached out to her son, telling Hayden how proud she was of him. However, what mom didn’t know was just how devoted her son was to God.
Hayden had decided to commemorate “Pole Day” by simply getting to the school early in the morning and standing in front of the school’s flag pole praying until another student came along to take his place. However, no one else did. Alone, he asked God to use him as a channel for others to witness.
Stacy was blown-away when Hayden got home. He told her that he had prayed for people to be moved by his action. He asked God to let him be a vessel for inspiration of others. It appears that God answered his prayer that day.