Peace, Be Still!

The boys are both learning to pray about various situations. They often remind us of things we need to pray for at bedtime: family members, specific needs("Uncle Brian's arm"), even things that don't make sense to us at the moment - and then come to our attention later. It's really cool to recognize their childlike, matter-of-fact faith. If they pray for something, they're not surprised if their prayers are answered in the manner they prayed for it. They're surprised if their prayers don't get the desired results. That gives us the opportunity to teach them of God's sovereignty and that His ways are higher than ours. As we were preparing to evacuate our home ahead of Hurricane Gustav ("we're going to visit Granny and Grandpa!"), Nathan had his usual long list of questions... "Is a hurricane like a tornado?" "Is it going to smash our house all up into little pieces and blow it away?" "Am I going to go to school in the hurricane?" "Can I bring some books and toys?"

Preparing for bed the night before we left, Laura read the boys the story of Jesus calming a storm. From their Children's Bible she read, "Jesus told the storm to stop. Right away it was calm." Nathan looked toward the window and yelled, "STOP, STORM!" He then informed Laura that the hurricane was not going to come now. Laura encouraged the boys to pray and ask Jesus to calm the hurricane and protect our home.

FYI: Though hurricane Gustav did come through Lafayette, our home, trees, power, etc. was left intact. Thanks for all of your prayers, too! Now, we just have to pray for IKE to dissipate!