He must have been two when it happened: back when his cheeks still looked like he was storing up nuts for winter. (Now, at 16, he just eats like he’s storing up for winter.)
The store’s fluorescent lights buzzed above, and the air conditioning was running full-blast there in the South.read more
Okay, it’s weird to admit this. But there’s an element of living in Africa, being a missionary and all that (or “working in development,” depending on your angle), which if dropped casually in the right circles, instantly hands one to a crumb of celebrity status. And it was really a cool job, y’know? And it made me really…happy. But I did a lot of exceedingly normal things over there. I shopped for a lot of groceries. Disciplined/schooled a lot of kids (well. Mine, anyway). I slept for about one-third of the time.
Last week, I heard from my sister in Thailand some of the heartbreaking moments they’ve been struggling through in their community of refugees. An 11-year-old girl sent to possibly “work” in Bangkok with her mother. A stabbing. A man depriving his family of enough money to buy food. And I thought, my kids and I should pray.
Then I thought of our prayers the last several weeks: Mostly stuff about…us.
Of course it’s good to teach our children to seek God for all their needs. But at that moment I thought, I want to up the ante on teaching my kids to cry out to God for other people.read more