Abbey

I guess my father in law took these when he was in MI a few weeks ago...I'm just now seeing them for the first time and am sharing them with you.

Just For You Clint

My good friend in Texas, Clint Logue, requested some pictures of Abbey, so here you go Clint...we miss you and your family!

Teaching Prayer

Wow, I have not written in quite some time, summer is in full swing and we are busy as ever.

This past Sunday the "prayer in school" (or lack thereof) issue came up both in Bible class and our Sunday night small group. I think I was in the minority because the issue just doesn't bother me all that much. I'll try and illustrate. I don't buy into the notion that our society is in shambles because we "took prayer out of schools." Now that I am a father I believe more than ever that Abbey's spiritual nurturing must happen at home, from both Rachel and I. And I want to instill in her at a young age that prayer is not just something we do in the morning, before each meal and just before we go to sleep each night. Of course all those things are great and I understand the whole "bedtime prayer thing" and how that is a special time with your toddler. But sometimes I tell Rachel that I don't think we should focus so much on the bedtime prayer and the prayer before each meal but rather start to teach and model that prayer is something we can and should do all day...and we don't have to stop, close our eyes and fold our hands.

That being said, the fact that when she starts school and sits in her first hour class and does not start the day with a "canned" prayer doesn't bother me all that much. Instead, I hope that I can teach her to be in such a relationship with God that everything she does turns to prayer. And that just her presence with others can be ministry because of her vertical relationship with her God. So whether she's on the swing set, science lab or school bus, every breath she takes...she prays.

And nobody can ever put a stop to that.