Living is Teaching

Perhaps one of the funniest things Hudson does is scrunch his nose up when he prays. It's as if he thinks if he opens his eyes his fate will be like those Nazis on Raiders of the Lost Ark!

Jen recently started something where each week at dinner we take time to talk about a missionary we are supporting and take time to pray for them. It's crucial to begin to pray together as a family while he is young. As parents that is our responsibility to begin to instruct him in the home, long before he enters a youth group or even children's ministry (Deut. 6:5-7).

As I reflect upon my own upbringing, I can't help but be grateful for the way my Mom taught me to pray. I can remember taking time before bed to spend praising the Lord with both of my brothers and my mom. How she was able to do that on a nightly basis with my poor attitude towards the activity I'll never know, but I'll also never be able to express my gratitude for her perseverance. My mom taught me a method to pray. It begins with praise, looking at God's nature and character, then thanksgiving based on what God has done, followed by confession of my own sin, and finally intercession for others and myself. It's not just that Mom taught me a method, but she also taught me that any occasion was a reason to pray. We prayed for close parking spots at the grocery store, we prayed for health on the football field and B's in Spanish 2, and we prayed for the firemen on the fire truck and those they were going to help (this weekend she prayed with Hudson that the Cars DVD would work!). At the time I may have thought this was odd or not important enough to mention to the Lord. What I've come to realize is that she was living out Philippians 4:6-7, but she was also acting upon God's character that as our Good Father no problem or care is too small for Him, or too little for Him to answer.

Not to long ago an ambulance whizzed by my car as Hudson and I were going somewhere. I found myself explaining where they were going and telling Hudson that we needed to take a moment to pray for the ambulance workers and the people they were going to help. Thank you Mom for the method of prayer, but more than that thanks for the example.