by Margaret Anthony, Keighley Churches Together

I DON’T know whether you have seen the film Dunkirk, which has been showing at Keighley Picture House recently. It is an incredible portrayal of the amazing events of 1940 and is worth seeing if you have a strong stomach!

It’s about the rescue of allied soldiers from the beaches of France during World War Two. The British soldiers were being pressed back by the Nazis to the coast and faced annihilation by their enemies as they waited helplessly for British ships to rescue them.

Strangely, Hitler had ordered his armies to halt their advance within a few miles of the French coast. He probably thought the British would be sitting targets for them now. The allied troops, being bombed by enemy aircraft on the beaches, knew that the destruction of their entire army was imminent. A third of a million soldiers would be lost.

The decision was taken to evacuate as many allied soldiers as possible. A call went out back in Britain for vessels of any size and description to rescue the beleaguered men. Hundreds responded by offering their boats for this purpose and they were able to reach the men waiting on the shore’s edge and bring them back home safely.

Well over 300,000 troops were evacuated whilst the German tanks and soldiers stood idle. Many of these troops were later to return to liberate Europe on D-Day.

The film stands as a memorial not just to the horrors of war, but to those who showed great courage in the face of great danger. The fear and bravery of the ordinary soldiers and the sailors in their ill-equipped craft who were sent to undertake their rescue, is apparent.

God can use you and I in His purposes if we show willing and trust Him. We may feel small, weak and unimportant, as did many crossing the Channel to Dunkirk in their little boats that day. But through our prayers, our actions and our words, God’s Spirit can effect great change around us. Though we may feel it at times, we are not insignificant as individuals. And together, through God’s grace, we can be instruments of change for good in the situations around us!