Child-like Faith

It's been a snowy winter finally! Jed and I have had the wonderful opportunity to go out sledding together and creating memories while developing the crucial Father-Son bond. No broken bones yet and we always bail out before we hit the tree. A lot of bruises, air time, headaches, and numbness. It's been great. 

By the time we were able to hit the slopes all the neighborhood kids had packed the snow down into some sweet channels that froze overnight into some slick luge tracks. We were FLYING! We were trying to see how far each of us could go but still stop before we fell into the creek. We got pretty close of couple of times.

On one of his runs he went so far past where he normally would stop. It was great and I was cheering, clapping, and pumping my fists in the air. For imagery picture a Tuscan Raider. When he finally stopped he turned and shouted up at me, "You know why I went so far? Because I prayed to Jesus that He would make me go farther this time."

I think there is a lot we can learn from such simple child-like faith. He prayed with an expectation that Jesus would do exactly what he asked. He wasn't surprised suddenly that Jesus said yes, but rather he was experiencing something that he knew Jesus was going to do because he asked. Also, I think Jesus wants us to pray for even the simple silly things in life. As a Dad, I don't want my kids to only come asking me to do the big things in life for/with them. I want them to come to me for the simple and silly things too. If we believe that God the Father is truly loving and caring, should we be so surprised that He would care about all the little silly things? Along the same lines, this is why I don't believe in luck. I believe that we have a caring Father who has His hand intentionally in every area of our life, including the silly little things (Yes, Carl Nellis, I still remember our conversation about this all those years ago).

(As a disclaimer, I don't mean that we should just demand what we want and expect Him to do it for us. BUT, I do believe that we should pray expectantly for Him to accomplish His Will. After all, if we are "In Christ" then shouldn't we desire His Will to be accomplished more than our own?) 

"Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Mark 14:36

Happy sleddin' y'all!