After the Columbine High tragedy, we learned of the story of Cassie Bernall, the young woman who said "Yes" and then was murdered when asked by her killers if she believed in God. Now, in the wake of another school shooting spree, this time in Minnesota, we learn of another heroic martyr, this time a teacher who openly prayed in for herself and her students and paid the ultimate price for her heroism:
"’God be with us. God help us,’ 15-year-old Ashley Lajeunesse heard [English teacher Neva] Rogers say after she told students to hide as gunman Jeff Weise fired through a window and marched into the room.
"’He walked up to that teacher with the shotgun, and he pulled the trigger, but it didn’t fire,’ said Chongai’la Morris, 14. ‘Then he pulled out his pistol, and he shot her three times in the side and once in the face.’
"Rogers, 62, was the only teacher killed by Weise, a depressed teenager who last week shot his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend, then went to the high school and shot Rogers, a security guard and five students before turning the gun on himself."
When the story of Cassie Bernall made the rounds, I believe it was Chuck Colson who applied Matthew 26:13 to her story. That verse is also appropriate for Ms. Rogers:
"Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."