One Little Boy’s Prayer With Santa Is Going Viral

santa boy pray

Most little boys and girls sit on Santa’s lap and ask for red race cars or doll babies, but 4-year-old Prestyn Barnette had a special request for Santa this year.

One night, Prestyn’s family came across a story on Facebook about Knox Stine, a 2-year-old boy who was found unconscious in November. Prestyn immediately wanted to do something to help. That is when Prestyn took advantage of his yearly meeting with Santa.

When visiting the mall to get his picture taken with Santa, Prestyn asked for a train set and asked if Santa would pray with him for a boy named Knox who needed Christmas miracle. Santa happily obliged.

Asked Santa to pray with our boy for baby Knox! #kneelingforknox #prayforknox

A photo posted by Lauren Sharpe (@lala19957) on

Santa and Prestyn kneeled down and prayed together. The picture went viral, and was seen by thousands of people. Including the Stine family, who were all overwhelmed when they saw it.

“I never met them,” Knox’s mother told Today.com. “I don’t know them. I don’t know how they know of us or heard of us or anything … I showed my husband, and we both just smiled at each other, like, ‘Something amazing is happening.’ It was just beautiful.”

The Stine family has even decided to buy Prestyn the train set that he wanted for Christmas as a way to thank the kind boy.

Prestyn didn’t just pray with Santa. Praying for young Knox has become part of Prestyn’s nightly prayers. And he even went to Build-A-Bear Workshop to make a gift for the boy he has never met.

This Christmas, join us in praying with Prestyn and Santa for a full and speedy recovery for Knox Stine.

Joe Seehusen serves as the President of The Intelligencer Institute, Inc. a non-partisan, non-profit, educational organization, that examines how the worldview of individuals and institutions in media, politics, entertainment and academia, shape our national conversation on culture and public policy.