Faith Like Anderson

I(Kevin) am normally the first one up in our house. It's always been that way. I get up very early. I enjoy starting the day in the dark and the quiet.

About 2:00 this morning Anderson came into our room and wanted to get in bed with us. He never does this so we decided to let him climb in. About 4:00 I couldn't sleep anymore with the extra little person in my face. I went downstairs. About 5:00 Anderson came down and said he didn't feel good. I felt his head and he felt a little warm. He said he wanted to eat and ate about 2 bites of cereal. I knew then that he was sick. He likes to eat his breakfast.

Later we gave him some fever medicine and he laid on the couch for a few minutes. Benay then sent him to the bathroom with me (she was holding Giovanni) because he was holding his hand over his mouth and she was, obviously, a little worried.

In the bathroom, he told me he was okay, but against his wishes I made him lie down on the floor until the medicine kicked in. He got up to tell me he was okay and proceeded to puke (as he calls it) on the floor, a rug, his feet and my feet. I spun him around and he finished up in the toilet. (sorry, no photo to document this story.)

As he finished up he was crying a little bit and he looked to me and asked me to pray for him. I stroked his hair and began praying that God would take away his pain and help him to not "puke" anymore. He has not puked since and has been feeling great with no more problems.

Why did I not think to pray immediately as did my 4 year old son?

Anderson prays about everything and I mean everything. For our lunch food to be good, for him to run faster, everything.

I'll give an example. This is a picture of him playing baseball a couple of weeks ago. Our good friends Mark and Ali Kaiser, were visiting us from the state of São Paulo. Mark was pitching the ball to Anderson and he just could not make contact with the ball. I'm not sure Anderson has ever played baseball. Since he was born he's been kicking a soccer ball so it makes sense for him to have some difficulty hitting a baseball. Anyway, a few minutes into trying to hit the baseball he stopped and put his head on the bat. He did this for a little while. Mark and Benay thought he was just resting or concentrating really hard before he tried again. Benay asked him if he was doing those things and he said no. She asked what he was doing and he said, "Asking God to help me hit that ball." Benay said he hit the next 4-5 balls that Mark pitched.

Confession time.......as you read that, how many thought, "what a cute story" and just kept reading? If so, why?

Why do we not hear a story like that and praise God for answering a prayer? When God says pray about everything in Philippians 4:6 (Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.), do we believe it?

Why does it seem easier to believe that God will answer a "healing from sickness" prayer faster than he will a "hit the baseball" prayer? Do we believe he has levels of importance or that he ranks our prayer needs? Or do we really believe "pray about everything" really means everything?

My kids keep teaching me valuable lessons on prayer and faith.

Jesus himself (in Luke 18:16-17) said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God."

I pray that today you (adults) can focus on this verse and appreciate the candidness with which Jesus spoke to us about our faith. And I pray that today we can return to a child like faith that Jesus loves so much.

I praise God for the lessons that kids teach us about faith and prayer. Go here if you want another example.