How to pray

A couple of weeks ago, our evening's Bible story was "How to pray".  We read from The Jesus Storybook Bible (we highly recommend this Bible to parents), a paraphrase of The Lord's Prayer, from Matthew 6.  We as a family learned and were reminded that God just can't wait to give us all that we need.  We don't need to use long words or special words.  We don't have to use a special voice.  We just have to talk.

Over this past month we really have seen a growth in Sofia's prayer life.  It's so beautiful to listen to her pray words of praise and thankfulness to God for his creation (everything from the birds in the sky to the boogers in her nose) as well as pray for friends and family who are sick.

This past Sunday evening Sofia sat on the trunk of the car inside the garage to watch the rain fall.  She asked me, "Mommy, why isn't there any thunder?"   I explained to her that it doesn't always thunder when it rains.

A few minutes later while I was getting some things out of a box, I heard her child's voice pray very simply,  "Dear God, please make it thunder."

About 30 minutes later while we were sitting at the dinner table, God answered her prayer.  It thundered!!!  What a blessing we had as parents to share with our child that God does hear her prayers and God does answer.

The good and the bad.

Here are some random pics from this past week.  I didn't quite get them in order but you get the point.

Selah sported quite the "do" for Crazy Hair Day at VBS.  
Sofia had a couple of her gymnastic friends over for a beach playdate.
She did not want to go to sleep.  
But she does know how to put her hands together when you say "Let's pray".  (The closed eyes were a bonus for the picture.)
And Sofia's "do".

Nine months is so fine.

Here is our beautiful nine month old daughter!  She loves the freedom of movement that crawling has given her.  Freedom to explore, freedom to chase after her big sis, and freedom to get into "trouble".    
Selah developed her own crawl...one knee and one foot.
Her poor foot has developed calluses from where she pushes off.
Enjoying the outdoors.  This is her first time in grass.  We'll see if she has any allergies.
Big sis loves hanging out with her lil' sis.

The Sirens Sounded.

We love thunderstorms!  There just something about a summer storm when the temps are warm enough so you can open the windows and listen to the sound of falling rain accompanied by rumbling thunder.  That is until they become tornadic.

Yesterday afternoon and early evening our local news stations began reporting about tornadoes touching down in the south suburbs of Chicago.  It was interesting to watch because we have driven through many of the towns on our way to Michigan.  At the same time, our county was under a tornado watch.  Then all of sudden around 7:50 p.m. Kevin saw a warning come up on our computer that a tornado was spotted in Wauconda (10 mi. sw of us) and was expected to be in Grayslake (our town) by 8:10 p.m.  The emergency broadcast on t.v. cut in (it really does work) stating we were to take shelter immediately and town sirens surrounding us began to sound off.

Not having a basement, the safest place in our home is the downstairs bathtub.  Kevin piled it with our sleeping bags and pillows, then the girls and I climbed into our "storm fort".  I outfitted Sofia with her bicycle helmet (saw this on The Weather Channel), and secured Selah in my arms.   Kevin never joined us but had us stay put while he tracked the storm by computer and going outdoors(he's a wannabe storm chaser).

Thankfully the tornadic storm stayed south of us.  After touching down in Mundelein (just a couple miles south of us) without doing major damage the storm continued on east instead of the predicted northeast pattern to where we live.

Japan trip

The above picture was taken at a combination Buddhist Temple and Shinto Shrine in Tokyo, Japan.  This image represents millions of people in Japan.  Just as this idol is bound ritually by the Japanese using ropes, so too the people of Tokyo are bound in the traditional religions of Buddhism and Shintoism, along with such spiritual strongholds as materialism and secularism.  May God grant grace to many Japanese so that they might become bound only to the Lord Jesus. 

If you read the previous post you now know that I (Kevin) have returned from Tokyo, Japan.  Although I still have remnants of jet-lag, I'm doing much better.  Well, going to Tokyo, Japan was incredible!  For those of you who prayed, thank-you.  God was gracious to me and the others in our group.  As in all of my other short-term trips overseas, God revealed to me that He is sovereign over all.  Three other things stand out from my trip.

1. Japan needs prayer and workers in the field.  Many Japanese live without hope.  Every day I read about at least one suicide in or around Tokyo.  In Japan, over 30,000 people a year take their lives.

2. God is displaying His grace to many Japanese.  Out of the blue, we met a handful of Christians in Tokyo.  It seemed that wherever we went God had us run into Christians.  We met Japanese Christians in parks, restaurants, and at one of the busiest street corners in the world.  This was cool, considering that only a 1/2 percent of the Japanese population is Christian. 

3.  It pleases God when brothers and sisters in Christ dwell together in unity.  Our short-term team was a real blessing.  We experienced the fullness of God's Spirit, boldness in witnessing, oneness in purpose, and the "surroundness" of God's presence. 

To the King of Glory! (Ps 24:7-10)   

   

You know you're jetlagged when...

the Admin Pastor comes up to you around 8:45 a.m. and says, "Kevin, uh, when did you get to church this morning?"

"About 7:45 a.m.  Why?"

"Well, that means your car has been running for about an hour in front of the church.  Don't worry, I moved it for you and turned off the engine."