Even as the country witnesses protests over social and racial justice, a national guardsman was found on camera kneeling with a 5-year-old boy in prayer during the Kentucky Derby Protests. The moment allegedly brought “strength” to the soldiers there.
The national guardsman
Dan Otterson, a national guardsman, said he was in tears because of the incident. “God sent a 5-year old boy to strengthen soldiers, and that’s something you can’t ever replicate,” he said.
Otterson went to talk with fellow soldiers about it after the prayer and shared a picture of him praying with the 5-year-old on his Facebook account. He added a write-up of what happened and why it came at a time that truly mattered for him and others and has been shared about 600 times.
The incident
Otterson shared about the incident writing that his military unit was regularly sent out to assist the local police department with monitoring heavily armed protesters and counter-protesters.
On that particular day, Otterson noticed “an older black lady who had 3 very small children with her. She hung towards the back, was quiet, not saying anything towards my team or LMPD, and waited for the majority of the protesters to thin out.” He said that she approached their fence line and said that the youngest boy wanted to pray for them.
Praying with conviction
He writes, “I could see he was timid so I approached him, got down on one knee, introduced myself, and asked if he wanted to pray. What happened next was worth every second of our weekend. This little boy prayed harder and with more conviction than I’ve ever seen anyone pray in my life,” Otterson asserted.
“He prayed for me, my team, and our safety. He didn’t care about color, he didn’t care about occupation, he just wanted us to be safe and prayed that we would have a hedge of protection around us,” he added.
He said that that moment made a huge impact on him, “In a world full of aggression and tension this little boy showed that there is still love and compassion, regardless of skin color, gender or how you feel about my occupations. While I may never see that little boy again, I know he was sent in that moment to keep us safe.”
This moment happened at a time when Kentucky was witnessing some of the largest ever protests. The Kentucky Derbys were closed over safety concerns from the Coronavirus and Louisville businesses were slated to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. Residents too have lost an iconic Kentucky family fun fare event which occurs year-on-year without fail.
Let us keep Kentucky in our prayers and ask the Lord to intervene amid the protest and COVID-19 fears and transform the whole situation supernaturally.
