A female police officer was finishing her morning patrol at a bus stop when a little boy approached her with a simple request. However, once she went back after school to locate the child, he was nowhere to be found.
While finishing up her rounds at local school bus stops, Louisville Metro Police Officer Jan Dykes was making sure the last of the children were getting onto the bus safely. Just then, she heard a small voice and turned to see a young boy trying to get her attention.
Although law enforcement officers might often appear stern and unapproachable, their stoicism may hide a deeper concern for their community. During a time in which political groups have expressed contempt and fear for the police, there’s no telling how an encounter might go on any given day. This stress has made it more difficult for good officers to do their job with ease.
With a backpack slung over his shoulders, the elementary-age child asked Officer Dykes if she would stop for a moment before he boarded the bus. Once he had her ear, he posed a question she never expected.
“He stopped me and was like, ‘Hey, before you leave, would mind if I prayed with you for your day and my day going to school?’” Officer Dykes recalled.
WAVE reports that Officer Dykes couldn’t believe what the boy was asking. She was completely caught off-guard, especially with the atmosphere of animosity toward law enforcement being passed down to the younger generations. Of course, she wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity for prayer and the chance to have a positive impact on a child.
Officer Dykes gleefully told the boy that she would like nothing more than to pray with him. The officer knelt down with the child and, placing her hand on his arm, she bowed her head and savored every second of the innocent prayer.
“It was great,” Louisville Metro Police Officer Jan Dykes said. “He said, ‘I want to pray for this officer’s safety. I made a new friend. I really hope her day goes great, and hopefully she makes a lot of lives better and going to school and meeting new people.’ It was really great to think this kid had this much excitement.”
Officer Dykes was struck by the child’s compassion. She saw the boy off to his bus and watched it pull away as she completed her patrol. While she was still in awe of the encounter, Officer Dykes realized that she hadn’t even gotten the boy’s name.
Determined to thank him for showing such kindness, Officer Dykes decided that she would return to the bus stop at the end of the school day to track down the child and offer a proper thank-you. However, she was surprised when other children exited the bus but the boy who had prayed for her was nowhere to be found.
According to Officer Dykes, she wasn’t able to track down the child who touched her heart with his sincere prayer, the boy’s act of kindness and incredible display of faith isn’t something she’ll ever forget.
“It brought a lot of joy to me for him to want to do that for me,” Louisville Metro Police Officer Jan Dykes said. “Often times people are thinking, ‘How can you go and help them?’ and its just nice to see he wanted to do that for me. It made me happy and see someone so young and moldable and being so positive and wanting to be that light.”
While Officer Dykes expressed hope that she would someday reconnect with the little boy, she said she’s had no luck finding out his name or address. It’s almost as if he completed the good deed and vanished into thin air.
Sometimes, all it takes to encourage and strengthen our fellow neighbors is something as simple as a prayer. It’s interactions like this that let law enforcement officers know that their service is still needed and appreciated even when they don’t always feel it.
