Our Very Scary Today…

I knew immediately, by the silly ringtone, that the caller was my son. I was busy bathing the youngest two and, for a moment, thought about not answering the phone. Then, like a brick upside my head, I realized that he should be in class…he never calls me at this time of morning. I dried my hands as fast as I could and reached for my cell phone sitting on the bathroom counter next to us…

“Mom?” he asked, voice quiet as if he were sneaking the phone call.

“Yes, Baby, what’s going on?”

“I love you…” he continued…”we’re having a real lockdown and I don’t know what’s happening, but I wanted to tell you I love you. I have to get off the phone now.” his voice became rushed but somehow more quiet…and then he hung up.

The swelling of my heart at the sound of his first words was quickly replaced by confusion, then fear, then panic. I immediately, and before even getting out of the bath, started to text loved ones and prayer warriors…to ask for a flooding of prayer to cover Skyview High School and everyone inside…Dang it! My cell is too low on battery! I jump out of the tub, bringing a very wet one year old with me. We drip our way over to the desk, I plug in my charger and send out the text.

My mind snapped, at light speed, past the moments when other parents got the same type of message from their own children, the times when news crews gathered at public schools or universities to get a body count, because some bullied student or betrayed lover or mentally ill individual went on a shooting spree that claimed lives and destroyed families. My heart somehow mourned for them and worried about us simultaneously…

Just as I’m dialing my husband, he’s calling in to me as well. I answer.

“Is this for real?!” He demands nervously. I can hear the growling of the big motor under him as he drives his semi through traffic.

I told him about my short and scary conversation with our first born…our beautiful, handsome, athletic, funny kid with the world’s biggest smile.

“I don’t know anything else yet.”

“Well, you need to call him back…or text…something! Find out if he knows anything, if the police are there.” He stammers out his thoughts as sporadically as my own are swirling around in my head. “Call me right back, I need to know if I can go there.”

I know he’s already mentally planning his son’s rescue…I text Tony again and ask if he knows anything else and if the cops are there. He texts back:

We don’t know anything. The cops are outside.

I tried to text him twice more…no answer. My heart was still racing. I was praying with all my might. My three year old was still in my line of sight, playing in the bath, unaware of the troubling scenarios playing out in my mind. My one year old was still sitting, naked but dry now, in my arms as I tried to juggle the phone, TV remote, and computer keyboard…trying to find an answer. I looked over and out the window and saw a police car circle our block…

I’m still praying…Lord please, in Jesus mighty name, PLEASE keep every person inside that school safe right now. Whatever is happening there, big or small, place a hedge of protection around that building and around everyone in and around it…

It was another twenty minutes or so, maybe longer, I’m not sure…

What I am sure about, however, is that my child is safe tonight…our son is asleep in his bed, in our home, safe here with us. I know that my God is a good God…and I know that He was with my child today, with lots of people’s children today.

Three schools were locked down, including also the middle school that both of my lovely daughters and my precious niece attend – right next to the high school my son is a sophomore at. The police were in pursuit of a felon that was spotted running across one of the football fields, rumor is he had a gun. My daughter says that the suspect’s daughter goes to her school…I don’t know what his intention was.

The schools did just what they were supposed to do, to keep our children safe…and I thank them for acting so efficiently. The police took the suspect into custody…and my children came home to me, to us.

Thank You, Father, for today’s happy ending…