Thanks for your Prayers

I don’t even know where to begin with today’s blog.  There is so much to say and so many ideas that I think the only thing I can do is keep this simple.  Our six week old daughter is in the hospital.  She is doing better now and will be coming home today, but there was about 24 hours where things were pretty scary.  There was an abnormality in her brain scan that could have signified some serious problems, and it took some time to get more accurate testing done.  In the end, all the tests came back normal.  As I was thanking God this morning for His protection over my daughter, I realized that I did’t know if the first test was a mistake or if there was something wrong and then all of a sudden…

…there wasn’t.

I don’t know if this was a miracle or just God taking care of us in a natural way.  What I do know is that in the middle of the night, when things were at their most dangerous, several people from our church awoke with a burden to pray for Emma.  I do know that prayer changes things.  I don’t know exactly what happened, but I do know that things were bad, and now they are better.  And I know that it is a very real possibility that those prayers saved her life.

Power of Prayer

I haven’t talked much on my blog about the 60/60 Experiment that I’ve been doing over the last two months. If you’re not familiar with the concept of a 60/60, what that entails is attempting to pray once every 60 minutes of your waking day for 60 days. With this year being a leap year, that made the months of January and February a perfect opportunity for such an experience. I have participated in one of these prayer activities in the past, and I was excited to have that kind of intimacy with God again. This time, however, we upped the ante by asking all of our youth volunteers to join with us. No one has been perfect, but everyone has experienced something unique and awesome.

I noticed this year that my experience was different from what I encountered the last time. I would say that rather than grow in a moving intimacy with God, this year I’ve experienced an emotional roller coaster. As I have prayed, my feelings have been stirred by such passion over the people and hurts that God has placed on my heart that I have been moved to tears on many occasions. In addition, joyful moments of prayer in worship have brought on tears as well.

While this experience isn’t exactly what I expected, it was what God had planned. I know that all of us had our own exceptional moments in these two months, and that no one had the same set of feelings or times with God. But I do know this: it is no coincidence that our student ministry has seen its most significant numerical growth at the same time that our volunteers made their most significant commitment to pray. And we will continue to pray to see God do amazing things at our church and in the lives of our students.

Childlike Faith

Because my wife is pregnant with our second child, mornings at our house aren’t exactly what they used to be. It’s hard to get going when you don’t feel good, and the other day she really didn’t feel good. I did my best to help, but it was just a tough morning.

When our daughter noticed that Mommy wasn’t feeling well, her compassion clicked in. She wanted to help to. She wanted Mommy to feel happy so they could play, but that just wasn’t going to happen. It was cute to watch her try to help, but the best part was when we prayed together.

We went into the living room, and the two of us held hands and prayed for Mommy to feel better. As soon as we said “amen” she ran into our bedroom to see what had happened. She doesn’t understand everything about pregnancy or morning sickness, but she does understand that when you pray to Jesus about something, He answers.

I tried explaining that it doesn’t always work that way, that we don’t always get instant results (she did feel better later in the day), but then I kind of stopped myself. I like her childlike faith. I like the way she prayed expecting something to happen (see Monday’s blog for my opinion on how most adults usually don’t). She will learn soon enough that God doesn’t always work the way we want Him to, for now I like the thought that she trusts Him completely and believes He can do anything. Sometimes I wish my faith was more like hers.

Monopoly at McDonalds

It’s that time of year again. No, I’m not talking about football season or fall, but about Monopoly at McDonalds. It’s time to get caught up in the monopoly fever, collecting properties and winning free McFlurrys. It’s time to eat delicious fries and Big Macs with the hope of bringing home Boardwalk and Park Place so you can cash in that $1,000,000 check. It’s time for my yearly McDonalds binge, something I eat very little of the other 11 months of the year, because there is that chance that I could win. Yes friends, this is going to be the year.

Now, before you get scared that I’m going to go all Morgan Spurlock on you, let me put your mind at ease. I don’t eat there three meals a day. It’s just that if I’m going to go out to eat, I chose McDonalds every time. I don’t let it change my spending, just where I spend. That’s because not only do I not need all those extra calories, but also because I really don’t think I’m going to win anything.

I think that some of us treat our prayers this same way. We don’t really change our prayer habit, we pray when we need something. Or we’re faithful to pray, but we don’t expect to see anything miraculous happen as a result. What’s good for McDonald’s Monopoly is bad for prayer. It’s the wrong attitude, and it shows a small view of God. I want to see God for who He really is, and I want to pray to Him believing that He’s truly the God over the entire universe.