{"id":38965,"date":"2018-12-03T08:28:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T08:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/"},"modified":"2018-12-03T08:28:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T08:28:00","slug":"principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Principal Uses FaceTime to Read to Students on School Bus in Snowstorm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A principal from the Lower Moreland School District took action to keep students calm when their bus was stuck in terrible traffic due to a snowstorm. Dr. Brian Swank, principal at Pine Road Elementary School, told CBS Philly he received a phone call from a parent of a fifth-grader who said the bus was stuck in traffic, so he decided to call that student.<\/p>\n\n<p>While they were on the phone, the student told him that the younger kids were &ldquo;freaking out.&rdquo; Swank then had the idea to get the kids&rsquo; minds off of the road conditions. Using FaceTime, Swank called the student again, assuring them the &ldquo;grown-ups&rdquo; on the bus, along with police, would make sure they would get home safely. After that, he began to read books to them to pass the time. After four-and-a-half hours, the traffic began to move and the bus was able to drop the students off.<\/p>\n\n<p>&ldquo;I just FaceTimed with our students that are still stuck on buses. They are warm and in good spirits. I read them some books and assured them that the grown-ups are working hard to get them home safely.&rdquo; &mdash;Dr. Swank pic.twitter.com\/3ppc5cL0PF<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>God shows the same compassionate attention to his adult children when they are fearful, stressed, and feeling helpless. He is the one who promised &ldquo;I will never leave you nor forsake you&rdquo; (Hebrews 13:5) and through his Word we find strength and hope.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\"> <\/h2>","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3649,3766,3861,3921,3934,3977,4141,4167,4168,4286,4400,4528,4546,4564,4699],"tax_ctp_topics":[395,396],"class_list":["post-38965","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-compassion-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-despair","tax_ctp_tags-emptiness","tax_ctp_tags-experiencing-god","tax_ctp_tags-faith-circumstances","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-death","tax_ctp_tags-help-from-god","tax_ctp_tags-hope","tax_ctp_tags-hopelessness","tax_ctp_tags-isolation","tax_ctp_tags-love-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-need","tax_ctp_tags-news-that-illustrates","tax_ctp_tags-omnipresence-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-presence-of-god"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Principal Uses FaceTime to Read to Students on School Bus in Snowstorm - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Principal Uses FaceTime to Read to Students on School Bus in Snowstorm - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A principal from the Lower Moreland School District took action to keep students calm when their bus was stuck in terrible traffic due to a snowstorm. Dr. Brian Swank, principal at Pine Road Elementary School, told CBS Philly he received a phone call from a parent of a fifth-grader who said the bus was stuck Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/\",\"name\":\"Principal Uses FaceTime to Read to Students on School Bus in Snowstorm - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-03T08:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-03T08:28:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Principal Uses FaceTime to Read to Students on School Bus in Snowstorm\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Principal Uses FaceTime to Read to Students on School Bus in Snowstorm - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/principal-uses-facetime-to-read-to-students-on-school-bus-i\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Principal Uses FaceTime to Read to Students on School Bus in Snowstorm - CT Pastors","og_description":"A principal from the Lower Moreland School District took action to keep students calm when their bus was stuck in terrible traffic due to a snowstorm. 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