PRAYER

I'm going to be gone from home for 11 days. Four of those days will be spent working with kids at the conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand. But people have been praying on my behalf about this trip for months. Lots of others have been praying for others, too. The number of people praying must be exponential compared to those of us going from our church.... from other churches and home school groups.... from those who will be attending the conference.... and those staffing the main conference. All of us have a team of people behind us of individuals who are praying. And we're all praying, too.

The interface of all these prayers must be a huge matrix. Like a subterranean extra-low-frequency antenna communicating with submarines in the depths. So much undetectable activity and energy! I don't understand prayer. I don't get why God asks us to pray. He doesn't need our input since He knows everything. The only power that is at work is His through His Holy Spirit. But He asks us to pray, and He gives us promises that will come to be if we pray. So we pray, and He fulfills His promises.

I think the best part of it all is the communication. I get to share my heart with the God of the universe. I get to have Him all to myself-- like I'm the only one on His mind. That really blows my mind, to use an old metaphor.

On Sunday our church family prayed for us during our morning worship service. So did the children in the KidZone. During both times people laid hands on us. People who have been, and will continue to pray while we are gone. People who I have prayed for. Kids who I have lead in worship and taught on Wednesday nights. That's another great thing about prayer-- building community together.



We also had a community prayer time at Keynote today. I don't mean to sound ungrateful or sacriligious, but I wasn't really deep into prayer this morning. I've been praying about this trip for so long, I think I'd become just a little perfunctory (if that's the right use of the word). But I did pray. And then I heard it-- the still, small Voice. "I want to do something FORYOU on this trip." "Really, God? I've been so busy getting ready and thinking about serving You, I hadn't thought about asking for anything." The room didn't move; there wasn't any writing in the sky or on the wall, but I felt the answer, something like a deliberate nod, deep in my heart.

When I related this exchange to a friend after we were done praying, he commented without hesitation, "Well, you are the apple of His eye."

Oh yeah! I'd almost forgotten!

Brown Paper Pearl

Jewels and pearls are on my kitchen table. Priceless props that will help us tell children how precious they are to God. I’m eagerly anticipating meeting the children and sharing almost a week together. But that’s in the future. Looking at the precious items on my table is right now, the present. How they and I came to this moment is a twisty-turny kind of thing in which God excels.

Renae, a friend of mine at Keynote, knows I like to scrapbook, so she gave me the flier/coupon advertising a new scrapbooking store that she received in the mail. Not one to turn down anything free (the coupon was good for five free sheets of cardstock) I went to pick out my five sheets and to look around. After quite some time of crafty-stuff overload as I wandered the aisles with a glazed-over stare, I spied the clearance display. Raised by a mama who taught me the joy of finding a bargain, I looked through the bins. At 25% off on the bottom shelf I found papier mache Christmas ornaments in various shapes.

My mind started a stream-of-consciousness side-trip. As I have been interacting with the administrators of the conference in Thailand, it’s become clearer with each email what I will be doing. Each message contains another piece of the puzzle. First I was asked to be the “music person”. Sing with the kids. Sure, I can do that. Then I found out, quite by accident, that there will be a program for the parents… and I’m in charge of it! More details surface—creating the backdrop, figuring out props, putting the songs and scripture verses into a coherent presentation, and probably many other things that I don’t know about yet. J The theme is “Treasures” and the setting is: under the ocean. As I looked at the brown, unfinished ornament in my hand, I saw an oversize pearl gleaming in a giant clam. The faceted ornaments became glittering jewels spilling out of a pirate’s chest.

I read once that Michelangelo saw “David” inside the block of marble before he even picked up his hammer and chisel. While a crude parallel to Michelangelo’s vision-- the jewels and pearls in the plain, brown ornaments, and the lessons that will take place in the children’s hearts that they represent—my thoughts and plans, given by the same God who inspired Michelangelo, are no less important to Him. The ornaments were out of my price range, however, so I left the store still thinking.

A few days later, because I signed up on the scrapbooking store’s email list, I received a notice that all the clearance merchandise had been marked down even further. While the program will happen even if I hadn’t found this loot, I know God set all this up. I could be very introspective and compare the children (and myself!) to the plain, brown ornaments, which I turned into jewels. A valid object lesson. But to me, the more precious idea is realizing how intricately God fit everything together from the timing of the coupon through to my purchasing the ornaments. I know there are situations exceedingly more significant in the world than leading me to props for the children’s program in Thailand. But my God is just as concerned about my little trail as any of the others. That is the jewel for me. My precious brown paper pearl.

WOOHOO it worked! Next time I'll try to figure out how you can leave comments... but maybe some of you will beat me to it and figure it out. See you then...

I'm SO untechnical.... I've had posts for this blog written for weeks, but haven't been able to figure it out! Here's one from two weeks ago.... we'll see if it makes it OK.

Wow! There's nothing like a shot in each arm to make going overseas real. I remember to pray about going to Thailand every time I move an arm!

I also have my plane ticket! For awhile, the financial support was coming in VERY slowly... but then, when I was beginning to doubt whether God had REALLY called me (maybe I just thought He did?!?) I received a huge gift. God is SO gracious and merciful. He knew that I needed the confirmation even more than the money.

One of the reasons I thought maybe I wasn't supposed to go to Thailand was because Tom was diagnosed with thyroid cancer after I committed to going to Thailand. Although it's 90% curable, we've had extra expenses, and the timing isn't the best. But God continues to move everything forward. Cool!