Pray like you are four

Pastor John probably had no idea that his "choosing to cheat" series would impact my 4 year old son quite like it did.  John McKinzie is the Lead Pastor at our home church, Hope Fellowship in Frisco, Texas.  Two weeks ago he started a series about cheating the things that take up time in our lives and replacing them with God.  We were all given bracelets that read "I'M A CHEATER" and asked to wear them each day both as a reminder to us as well as a great conversation starter.  Brandon spotted the bracelets and of course wanted to wear one.  Sylvester and I decided that if he could understand the basic concept and be able to explain it to others then we would let him sport the blue plastic armband.  We talked to him about "cheating" things in his life that tend to distract him and take up a lot of his time.  He agreed that playing on a phone, watching movies, and playing the Wii were things that he could cheat.  Then we talked about things that we could do to replace them.  He got his children's Bible out of his bookshelf and laid it next to his bed.  We talked about taking time in the day to pray, singing songs, spending quality time with his sister and teaching her the right way to do things.  

For several days he called us out every time we picked up our phones or tried to zone out with the tv.  (I'm thinking next time around Pastor John should hand out rule following 4 year olds in leu of bracelets... much more effective)  We spent time reading stories from the bible, praying, and singing Brandon's favorite worship songs.  We have been working on simple songs that he can help to teach the children in Zambia during Vacation Bible School This summer.  This is his current favorite, but beware it will be stuck in your head all day... Click HERE to hear Brandon's Favorite Song

Monday evening as I was putting Brandon to bed, he asked me how we know that God is listening when we pray.  I started into my explanation about how God is always listening when he blurted out "But it's not Christmas!"  More than confused, I asked Brandon to explain what was going on.  Apparently he had been cheating time playing on the iphone to pray during the day.  He had been praying that it would be Christmas again, that it would snow, and that all of the children in the world would receive presents again.  We spent a lot of time talking about the three ways that God answers prayers.  I'm still struggling with exactly how to answer my inquisitive 4 year old's questions about everything in the whole world so I'm just learning as I go.  I find it really hard to explain things to Brandon because I'm reasonably sure that he is already smarter than I am at this point.   I tell him that sometimes God answers our prayers with yes, sometimes with no, and sometimes his answer is wait.  We talk about his reasoning for wanting it to be Christmas again.  I try to explain that we need to make sure that we are aligning ourselves with God's will.   We then spoke about the Bible story we had read that night about Rebekah at the well.  Abraham's servant knew that God would give him a sign to let him know the right woman to marry Isaac.  Brandon decided that he would just wait for God's sign about Christmas in January.  I went to bed that night smiling at the wonderful heart and mind of my precious little four year old.  

Tuesday morning I wake up, look out the window and find Brandon's sign.  There is over an inch of snow covering the ground of our yard.  Now you must remember that we live in Texas.  Last year we didn't see snow at all.  I can't even remember for sure if we got our winter coats out of the closet at all the whole year.   But there was Brandon's sign from God, as clear as it could be.  I can not even tell you how excited my little boy was when he discovered the snow.  He was yelling, "He was listening Mom, it's Christmas, it's Christmas!"  He was so pumped about snow that not even my it's not really Christmas explanation would slow his excitement.  

Last night as Brandon went to bed we spoke again about prayers.  He had decided that God's sign of snow for him might be to tell him something important.  He was speaking of presents, toys, giving things to the children in Zambia, and all sorts of exciting things as he drifted off to sleep.  As I close his bedroom door, Sylvester tells me that "Uncle Richard" is in town and would like to drop off Christmas presents for the kids that we had not been able to exchange until now...  So guess what little boy is getting Christmas in January...


This makes me smile, it makes me proud, and it makes me so excited to see how Brandon is going to make a difference in people's lives.  He is so excited about our mission trip this summer.  He talks about it every day.  He asks questions about the children, learns songs to teach them, participates in public speaking events about Zambia, prays about it, and asks us every day if it's time to go to Zambia yet.  I just hope that I can follow in Brandon's footsteps and learn to truly cheat my daily life and give it all to God.  Being the control freak that I am, I think it's my biggest struggle.  I tend to give it to God, and then take a little part of it back to continue to worry about.  Today I am going to cheat my worries, cheat my time away from my family at work, cheat the stress of life, cheat the schedules, cheat the things that tear me away from God and from my family.  I just want to pray like I'm four and know that God will send me a sign and use me for His Glory.  

If you are interested in Cheating things in your own life, you can watch Pastor John's messages about choosing to cheat HERE

If you would like to learn more about the school that we will be working with while in Zambia you can do that HERE

If you would like to donate towards our trip so that we can make sure Brandon gets to Zambia this year you can do so HERE