Lest We ForgetScot Bower - 27 May 2010

70 years ago today over 300,000 troops were miraculously evacuated from Northern France by a flotilla of small fishing and leisure boats which sailed across the English Channel.

And the not-so-secret strategy that enabled this extraordinary rescue? Prayer. A day of prayer called for by the British king.

Nearly half a million Allied troops were about to be overrun by the advancing German army. They had fought a retreat to the coastal town of Dunkirk but had little hope of rescue and there was nothing else to do but pray. King George VI (the British king) ordered a national day of prayer on the 26th May and desperate prayers poured out of homes and churches across Britain.

The following day, as I'm sure we all know, an incredible story was written by the captains and civilians who sailed their tiny boats across the Channel. What isn't as often remembered is the story of how the sea was calmed to enable the voyage or how thick cloud covered the channel preventing the enemy airforce from destroying the makeshift armada as it made it's way home or why they weren't pursued or the small stories of individuals who testified that only a miracle saved them from explosions or gun fire that day.

70 years later we remember the grace of God poured out that day (as well as the lives of many brave people). We also remember today that when it all seems impossible and you have nowhere left to run. When the enemy is camped at the door and there is nothing more you can do, that we have a Saviour who listens and acts, that prayer worked on that day in 1940 and that prayer works today.