I took a vacation day last Friday to spend the afternoon with my wife and our only grandchild, Miley. After a little trio picnic at a State Park, we joined up with Miley's parents for supper, and returned her to her rightful owners (them). Some people hate winters saying they are cold and dark. Since I'm a snow skier, I love winter. I for one am not much for the "heat" of summer. Seems like the Devil works on me more when it's "hot." He likes "heat" ya know! But being with Coletta and Miley on this hot summer day brought a cool refreshing in my life.
Miley is much like "summer" when it comes to this "pray more thing." She has really done a number on our whole family. Because of this little gal almost "two," I pray more. I know I shouldn't but I worry about Miley. Don't get me wrong, she has two of the best parents a girl could ask for. It's not that. It's just that at her age, she's so "fragile," body, mind, and soul. I worry about how "fast" something bad could happen to her. (How's that for a preacher really TRUSTING GOD)?
A kidnapper? An illness? An accident? Or God forbid that a "pet python" would get out of its cage, crash through Matt and Jenny's window, bite and strangle my granddaughter, like what happened in Florida two weeks ago to a little two year old girl there! (Only the Florida tragedy was a pet in their house)! I didn't sleep much the night I read about that in the news. (Although I will say Matt and Jenny get an A + in keeping Pythons away).
When I pray for Miley's health, safety, and welfare, I can't help but want to pray more for her parents, Coletta, my wife, and also Aaron, our son in China. I know, my boys are adults now, but when you are a parent, and one of your sons drives a work van to repair gas furnaces every day, and the other is walking across a 10 lane street (every day) in a city of 7 million on the other side of the earth, you pray more.
Well good! I need to pray more! Not just in summer and for Miley, but also for my wife, family, other relatives and friends, and also the church where I pastor. So, even though I dislike the summer "heat," it is good for me! It helps me pray more, helps me trust the Lord more, and helps me entrust my family into his care more.
It also gives me great hope. I hope winter will come soon, and I hope I am still healthy enough to strap on my snow skis and take on a couple of black diamond slopes!
So let the summer and Miley help you pray more too. When you do, you see how big God is and can experience the cool refreshing He can bring in your life, even in the midst of the "hot summers" that come year after year.
That's something to think about.
jimmycburns@aol.com
