Introducing Shepherd Wright

If you’ve bumped into our family in the last five months, you’ve seen a definite difference.  We are now a family of four (five if you count dogs).  That’s right!!  We’ve added a second son (and this one) via adoption.  If you haven’t seen us and therefore you met him, then maybe you’ve seen pictures.  But, in case neither of the above is true for you.  We’re ready for you guys to meet him since as of October the adoption is final and the decree is signed.  I hope you’ll read our story and rejoice with us for all that God has done in our lives.

Why adopt? –

We are often asked why we decided to adopt.  There are lots of reasons why adoption has always been a desire for us.  A) There are lots of children who need love.  And our capacity to love is big.  B)  God’s word says that it is a “pure religion” that cares for widows and orphans… – and adoption is one means for doing so C) I saw lots of hurting children when I was a child.  I always wanted to help.  That desire never left me.  D) Adoption has actually always been in my life.  I’ve seen firsthand what it means to love children that are not your own biologically as if it was the most natural thing ever.  E) But, lastly, Kimberly and I were both motivated by the knowing that we are adopted.  A loving God sought us out and made us part of his family.  In turn, we want others, as many others as possible to know his saving grace.  And, we sincerely pray that he is gracious to our sons that they would come to saving faith in the Messiah.

A quest to adopt…

I’ve come to the conclusion that the adoption process is always a journey filled with ups and downs.  After taking the first step of deciding to adopt, the journey kicks off with ordinary stuff like completing lots of paperwork and opening up your life to a great deal of scrutiny.  And, then you make it to the point where there’s an approvable (hopefully) home study that explains just who the adoptive family is and what they’re about.  We then completed a profile with lots of pictures and words about our family that was shared with the birth mom [a new term I learned for a woman who is giving birth to a child that is adopted].  It’s a high point to get done with interviews and to have something that paints a picture of our family as the all-American Christian family that wants to adopt a baby.

Then the low hits when you think you’re matched but mama decides to keep baby either because she now thinks it’s the best thing or she just can’t bear the thought of losing the child that she has now held in her arms.   That feels like a major loss.  Real tears are shed and real grief is felt.  Sleepless nights follow.  Prayer for both mama and the child happen continually.  This heartbreaking moment happened to us twice.

We prayed a lot.  We asked, “Why?” a lot.  We began to seek out what God was doing in us and whether he might have us take a different approach on something.  Did I say we prayed a lot?  We knew God had led us to the path of adoption and so we didn’t want to give up.  We were confident that he had a child for us.  And, in the words of Fred Hammond, “to give up now would be jacked up for sure”.

With one of our failed adoptions, we landed in an attorney’s office.  Apparently sometimes attorneys have women who approach them looking for matching adoptive parents.  We gave the attorney the green light to share our info if such a case happened.  His assistant said not to hold our breath because it rarely happens.  Well, she called us twice in as many weeks with ladies looking for adoptive parents.  The second ended up being a situation we were very interested in.  To make a long story short, the birth mom lived in our state.  She was just a few weeks away from giving birth.   We met her.  We heard her story of heart break and despair.  She liked us.  She asked us to parent the baby she was carrying and knew she could not care for.  We talked several times.  Kimberly took her to the doctor a few times.  If it makes sense, we can say this “felt” right.  It felt more natural than either of the first two circumstances.  Things worked out.

Closing the Story

A friend had suggested the name Shepherd when we thought we were going to receive a little boy earlier in the process.  I wasn’t a huge fan.  But, every time I turned around God was leading me to scripture and bringing out the idea of shepherding throughout biblical history.  We all know Psalm 23 paints a picture of “the LORD” as shepherd but the Old Testament is filled with imagery of God as Israel’s shepherd (and if you’ll accept it, the shepherd of anyone who calls on his name).  I became a fan of the name because God was obviously writing a story.

So, with this name in hand, when our baby’s mom asked if we had a name picked out, I boldly said, “We like the name Shepherd for a boy.”  She hated it.  But I think she was willing to deal with it especially if her son got to live with a family that liked Alabama football.  [She’s learned to deal with Kimberly’s LSU alumnus status.  But, it was seriously important to her that we not like Auburn.  This stuff happens for real.  Kimberly and I couldn’t stop laughing when our football allegiance was questioned.]

June 22^nd rolled around.  While we watched Monster’s University with our big boy, Kimberly received a call and headed to Montgomery because birth mom was in serious labor pain.  That evening our son was born.  A few days later we brought him home to be a part of our family forever.

What have we gained?

We have a little boy that in some ways looks just like us.  He has all of his fingers and toes.  He has a head full of hair.  He sleeps great at night.  He eats a lot (very much like Caleb and me).  He also has a fun personality.  He laughs at me anytime I look at him (unless he’s hungry, sleepy or ready to be changed).  But, in some ways he looks nothing like us.  His skin is pale.  His hair is straight and blondish red.  His eyes are hazel (maybe headed toward brown).  But, we are all certain that he is where he belongs.  Who ever heard of a black family with a child who looks white in a place like Alabama?  [to clarify: birth mom is white and believes birth father to be black]  But, God knows exactly what he’s doing.  He’s made our family one that will impact our world with the gospel and hopefully give face to the idea of racial reconciliation.  Because guess what, there won’t be segregation in heaven.  So, people!  God’s people!  Get ready!!  Because the picture I have of heaven is one where people of every nation, tongue and tribe will gather around the throne to worship the Lion and the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world.  So, how dare I reject or love a child less because he may not share my roots in a little place we like to call Africa.  I am forever humbled when I think about what a family should look like.  A family is comprised of people who love each other in the way that God expects us to love each other.  So, look out for more from our boy Shepherd! 

I hope you were patient enough to make it to the point. :)  Shepherd is ours and we are his.  Everyday, we are here to love him and point him back to his heavenly Father.  And, if you've waited til now, here's his picture.

The Lord is the strength of his people;
    he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
    Be their shepherd and carry them forever. – Psalm 28:8-9

 

Baby Shepherd

Money Tips!!!

I am terrible with money because I can’t be precise to save my life. I’m a saver married to a spender. But my saving is always relative. I never know how much I’m saving. I just like to throw money in savings and never spend on anything. So, thankfully, God has been gracious to me in many ways in terms of his provision (especially in the area of a wife who watches the bank account like a hawk.) So, see these tips on money but once you get past the first three, I don’t know how good they really are.

#1 Trust the Lord for your provision. Seek him and follow his commands. (See Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.)

#2 Be content with what you have. Do you really, really need more stuff? I bet you could survive on what you have. So, stop striving for more stuff. It just drowns out your ability to follow #1 because you trust your stuff more than you trust God.

#3 Get a job and be faithful at performing it.

#4 Make a budget that allows you to live within your means and that supports the following items (see #s below). Kimberly and I use the envelope system. We learned it from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. But you can probably find more info about it online.

#5 Give generously. Tithe to your church (if you have one -- If you don’t you probably shouldn’t be reading this list anyway). And, don’t be nitpicking about tithing on gross or net. Be generous. There’s actually no New Testament command to the church to give 10% so give more than that.  Give toward the advancement of the gospel and to other good causes.

#6 Put $1000 in a savings account. Sacrifice a few lattes or a few shopping sprees and save one thousand dollars. Leave it in savings and only remove it for REAL emergencies. Needing a pair shoes is NOT an emergency. If your air conditioner goes out in your car, that’s NOT an emergency. If its winter and the heat in your house doesn’t work, that IS an emergency. But, remember #1, don’t start to trust in that $1000 because as soon as you start to trust in that, you’ll have $5000 worth of trouble.

#7 Get out of debt. Pay off credit cards. Pay off car loans. Pay off student loans. And, close the accounts. You might save one credit card just so your credit score doesn’t tank (in case you ever need or want to buy a house)

#8 Start to buy stuff with cash. So, for instance if you need a car after you’ve paid the current one off, save the money so that with your trade you can pay cash for a car that is one or two years old (or older if you can stand it). For most of us we won’t ever buy a house with cash. But, most recommend a short term loan like 10 or 15 year mortgages.

#9 Don’t give loans. I don’t loan anybody money. I do obey Jesus’ command to give to those that ask of me. But, I usually don’t expect it back. I don’t always say that I don’t expect it back, but I make sure I can live without it when I give it. This will save your relationships with your family and friends. Loaning money and holding onto an expectation to see it again, will cause you to harbor unforgiveness.

#10 Be content with what you have. Yeah, I know I said that in #2 but you need to hear it again. Unfortunately, living in America, we tend to fall prey to culture’s bent for us to have more and more and MORE. (As a for instance, I can think of 20 reasons why Kimberly and I need a bigger house. But honestly, people in a lot of places raise bigger families than ours in less space with fewer things. So, until baby #4 gets here, I think we’ll stick it out in our 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house). You like that subtle hint, don’t you?

How long is too long?

So, people joke around all the time saying things like "Don't pray for patience or the Lord will have you waiting on everything."   That's kinda funny, but ultimately if we have the Spirit of God eventually we better be showing some patience or what we're really saying is that we don't have the Spirit of God.

This morning I was doing a little blog reading and I ran across one that mentioned a lady from Luke Chapter 13.  It's the lady that had a disabling disease that prevented her from being able to stand upright for 18 years.  18 years?  Can you imagine staring at the ground having to shuffle your feet to move; getting neck strain in order to see where you're going for 18 years?  But, thankfully, one day the Master called her to himself and he released her from her affliction.

That also reminds me of the story of the guy described as an invalid that laid by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years.  When Jesus saw him, he asked the question, "Do you want to be healed?"  And this poor fellow couldn't even offer a straight answer.  He started blaming others for his problem.  If only he had somebody put him in the pool.  Jesus was matter of fact and didn't have time for all of this hemming and hawing.  His immediate command to the man was to "Pick up your bed and walk."  So, we see the opposite side of patience where this man had stopped seeking change.  He had all but given up on being better.

And, last, it reminds me of Abraham who waited 25 long years to see the promise of the true son.  At age 75, God had called Abraham out and sent him to a land making him the promise that his offspring would be as the stars of the sky and the sand along the sea.  At 90, Abraham and God met and they talked about Abraham (or Abram at the time) and how he went childless still.  Here he was 15 years into this relationship with God and what God had promised had not happened yet.  But, the bible says that Abraham "believed God".   It was even 10 more years before Isaac was born, but Abraham believed God and did not waiver in his trust.


And, that's the Word for the day.  Trust God.  Be patient because he is not slack concerning his promises.  So, how long is too long?  As long as you know that God is good for it.  Don't let the Satan bind you into thinking that God won't come through.   There is no such thing as too long because even if you don't see what you're looking for on this side of heaven; it's still coming if you are his.

Girls have cooteys (or is it cooties?)

Don't take this the wrong way (aside: when a person starts out like that, there's only one way it can be taken and that's the way they don't want you to take it), but when it comes to children, I have banned girls from our house.   Well, that's the way I used to think.  I only wanted sons and for the most part that probably still holds.  You see the problem with girls is that their dad becomes this mushy substance in their hands...  I've talked about this girl thing before in a blog in a post titled Father of the Bride.  And additionally, I've had a little bit of personal experience through our foster children.  We had one three year old that would cry just because she could.  And, I didn't know what to do with that.  And then we've had a five year old that just stared at me (until she needed help at which point we were best friends and then after that she just stared at me).  Again, I didn't know what to do with that.

But alas, I met a girl that made me wish she was my daughter.  She goes by Daisy (Her real name sounded like "Evon-Dee") and she lives in Haiti in an children's home.   She's 10 and like a number of the other children, she was just hanging out checking out the "blancs" (white people) and me as we worked on what was their church/school building until the January 2010 earthquake.  She didn't do anything but try to help like some of the boys had...  and in an instant she stole my heart and made me wish that I had a 10 year old daughter.

That kind of strange power that girls have is ridiculous.  If she didn't have four older siblings that loved her and would probably never let her go, I would look high and low for how to adopt her (with Kimberly's blessing of course).  Of course the only hangup with that is that Haitian adoption is a miserable process from what I've heard.  I think it barely has an edge on getting a camel through eye of a needle.

Much love!

It’s not what you think…

I have trouble being an American sometimes.  I think we can be too self-sufficient and too selfish.  A trip that I made to Haiti at the end of July has made it even harder for me to be comfortable.  I keep thinking about the words of Jesus and looking at my life and going something’s not right here.  One of the scriptures that I’ve looked to recently is the account of a rich young ruler.  Here’s what I see and what I wholeheartedly believe it teaches us.

In Luke 18 (also an account in Matthew and Mark), Jesus encounters a rich guy that wanted to assert himself as deserving of the kingdom of God.  So, he asks Jesus a question about what he needed to do to be saved.  It got down to Jesus telling him to go get rid of all his stuff, give the proceeds to the poor and to follow him (Jesus).   Jesus wanted him to unload all of the deadweight from his life so that he wouldn’t have any trouble being a worthy disciple.

Well, the young man refused to part ways with his stuff.  And as he walked away sad, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." And then, those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

So, what’s the confusion about here among the listeners?  Well, you’d have to go back to people like Abraham to see.  Abraham was very wealthy.  His son Isaac was very wealthy.  And his sons were also very wealthy.  And, if you follow the history and even the law of the Jews, it seemed that those who found favor with God had great wealth.  And, now Jesus says it is exceedingly difficult to enter the kingdom of God as a rich man.  Why?

It is because God requires our full allegiance.  If we will trust in him for salvation and not our stuff, then we have to take our eyes off our stuff to truly see what he desires for us.  Jesus makes several comments similar to this.  The whole line of conversations about one guy needing to go bury his father or another wanting to go say goodbye to his family; in all of these Jesus is saying that the kingdom has urgency and if you can’t get on board with the urgency of the kingdom then you’re not worthy of me.

Jesus also says that we must pick up our cross and follow him.  That’s right pick up the very tool that was used to kill Jesus and at least one of his disciples and follow him.  The kingdom of God is counter cultural.  Christ calls us to imitate him in denouncing the ways of this world and trusting him with every aspect of our lives which may mean that we lose our lives; as in we may not be popular with the people that like the world; and as in we may literally lose our lives pursuing what he tells us to pursue.

Jesus said lots of hard stuff.  And, it all makes me ask the question… “Have most “Christians” missed the mark of what it means to follow him, to really really follow him?  

Did something change from the Old Testament to the New?  I think so.  If you look at all the patriarchs and their wealth, they served God with it.  And, one of the primary goals of the Old Testament was to establish a nation and to establish a place where God could be worshipped (i.e. the temple.)  And, now both Christ and his followers are the temple of God.  So, it doesn’t take a lot of money to upkeep a body.  So, we give it away to people who are dying with the hope of saving their lives and saving their souls.

God has called us to himself that we would worship him and then he has commissioned us to go tell others about him that they might worship him.   And sometimes it takes us selling all that we have and giving the proceeds to the poor in order to accomplish that.  The gospel aint ya mama’s prosperity gospel.  

Much love!

Identified with Christ (Make much of him, not yourself)

Lately, I've been reading Paul's letter to the Romans (I'm still in Chapter 1).  I've literally been stuck there for a couple of months and, I don't mean that in a bad way...  I had been wanting to study and memorize parts of Romans for a while now, but since I have been reading it this time through, I keep going back to Paul's introduction in the first six or seven verses.

It's the longest of all of Paul's introductions in his letters to the churches.  And, that is largely because it is to a church that he did not have a part in launching nor had he even visited.  But, he longed to visit and he also appears to want to make Rome a new ministry base for his ministry in the "West".  This eventually happens, but not in a way that you, me or Paul would have drawn it up.  It became his base a few years later as he sat their imprisoned; and there he also eventually died.

But, back to the verses and what I believe they say to me the most...  Paul talks about himself for half a verse and even that is pointed to Jesus and Paul's role as his servant.  As Paul gushes on and on about the gospel and how it was foretold for hundreds and thousands of years by the prophets; and about Jesus and how he's the Son of David and the Son of God; and God's grace towards us via apostleship and the establishment of his kingdom, I lose sight of Paul himself as a man.

As for me; I find my identity in Christ, but if I some days I do find my identity in being a 6 foot 4 inch 240 pound black dude; in being an engineer, in working for the "power company", in being Kimberly's husband, in being Caleb's dad,  in being Jessie's youngest son; in some sort of political allegiance; in a social club; in the house I own; or the car I drive...   You get the picture!  Christ follower, identify with your savior before you identify with anything else.

The gospel is being watered down with the lives we live that are about us, our desires, and our dreams.  Churches have become social clubs and sermons have become about having your best life now and reaching our personal goals.  Instead, we should all pursue what Paul speaks of a little further into Romans Chapter 1...  He was obligated both to Greeks and Barbarians to preach the gospel to them.  Make it your aim to preach the gospel of Jesus' life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and his return.  That's worth living for... When we make much of him; and less of ourselves, our lives then have the most value, they'll ever have.

Much love!!

I'm Getting Closer

I love this song, Closer by Lara Landon...

It is my hope that I am being sanctified day by day, growing closer to the image of my Lord and Savior...

And, I'll admit before you watch this video, the song is better than the video.  I'm not sure what she was thinking...making a hokey video like this.  :o)




Much love!

delusions of grandeur

A definition of delusions of grandeur is as follows: delusions (common in paranoia) that you are much greater and more powerful and influential than you really are…

I’m willing to admit that I suffer from this.  I think I can dance better than I really can.  I also think that I can sing like one of the three tenors.  I believe that I can accomplish great feats like dunking a basketball.  (That one isn’t too far fetched since I could do it in high school and college.)  I even think that I’d be a great racecar driver as proven by my weaving skills on Highway 280.  But lately I’ve been feeling like I should be a rapper.  And I mean literally, I could just turn into LL Cool J and just start breaking out into song mid-stride.  "Mama said knock you out!!!"

So I’ve always suffered from these delusions.  But, I also suffer from great thoughts of defeat.  I often think that I’m a weakling that has no authority, no power even in my own home and that I should go crawl under a rock somewhere and no one would ever notice.  So, I guess you could say I’m not only paranoid, schizophrenic, and delusional, but I’m also bi-polar.  Anyway, on the delusional note, I’ve been aided along in my delusions by the preaching of God’s word.  Our pastor has been preaching from the book of Acts.  And, this week’s sermon was on Chapters 5-8 of that book.  There we see that the only purpose for our lives as Christians is to move the gospel to the ends of the earth...  to make known that there is only one God worthy of worship.  And, in that purpose God has made us unstoppable.  We as the church will accomplish the purpose of God for our lives or die trying.  And, that’s no delusion my friends!  Come lose your life with me, and together we will find our lives.  That’s the gospel.

Much love!

One Year Ago...

Tonight is January 11, 2011.  Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of an earthquake near Port-au-Prince, the capital city of Haiti.  The earthquake hit the city and the nation like a ton of bricks.  Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere did not have the infrastructure to withstand the quake.  Thousands died and most structures near the center were either destroyed or severely damaged.  Since that time, there has been very little rebuilding.  Thousands live in tent cities.  They have for months.  As if an earthquake that killed thousands wasn’t enough, in recent months, the country has been ravished by cholera…a disease that could easily be eradicated by clean drinking water and proper hygiene.   My heart aches for the people of Haiti.  I’ve longed to see them and to encourage them, but twice now I’ve thought I would see them and twice the trip has fallen through.  But, I am praying for them.  I read the stories on websites for CNN and Samaritan’s Purse.   I pray for them and I hope to go there soon.

It would be so easy to judge Haiti and say that they deserve what they get.  The country’s government is corrupt.  There is widespread voodoo practiced on the island.  They have mistreated a number of people that have come to their aid.  They have abused and robbed the earth of it’s resources until the country is barren and unable to support itself.  But, when I hear people say things like that, it reminds me of a rebellious and stiff-necked people that refuse the love of God.  Yeah, that’s us.  So, I don’t want to judge because I am them.  Love the Haitians and pray for them.  If you’re able and God burdens you, go to them.

Much love!

(P.S.  Read this article.  It will bless you.)

I am blessed

I’ve been thinking about my blog entries and as I’ve thought about them, it seems like I lament a lot.  So, I wanted to write a more upbeat entry, because if you know me, you know that I enjoy life and I laugh a lot (a whole lot).  In some ways, my thoughts and my personality have intensified over time.  And, that ultimately stems from a heightened desire to please God in my actions and to see the world around me changed for the better.  But, in all that intensity, I’m still a happy, joyful, upbeat person.  So, what I want to proclaim today is that I am blessed beyond all measure and in more ways than can be enumerated.  God has given us more than we need for every situation.  It’s just like his name says of him Jehovah Jireh, he’s all we need, a great provider.  Yes, I am blessed!  I praise God for that because I am truly grateful!  I never want to stop praising him and blessing his name for all he is and all he's done!

Gravy
So, here’s the lament part of this, but it’s really not a lament.  It’s an encouragement or maybe even an admonishment to myself and others.  Recently, I was sitting around the table with a bunch of folks.  And, we were talking about our annual performance incentive and how we performed in 2010.  Well, it turns out that we had the worst year ever as an operating company (by far).  And, in the room that I was in, nobody was complaining because the year ended better than we thought it would.  But, like everything for the few that are happy to just to get something there are many more that complain about the goals that were in place that prevented us from having the highest achievable incentive.  But, as I sat and thought about the whole thing, I said [to myself], “This is gravy!   As a matter of fact, it’s all gravy.  Half the world lives on two dollars a day.  Anything beyond that is gravy. “  In a subsequent conversation, I did share that with someone,  and he said, “My friend if you roll out of bed in the morning, the rest of the day is gravy, forget about making one red cent.  Living life is gravy.”  So, I’m blessed.

Comforts and Luxuries vs. Survival
Now back to this two dollars a day business…  We need a car.  Well, according to middle class American standards, we need a car.  We have two old cars…one that’s twelve years old and one that seven years old.  The twelve year old car runs a little sluggish and it leaks multiple kinds of fluid.  The shocks are shot and it sometimes scrubs the ground.  It creaks and rattles as I roll along.  And, it has 170,000+ miles on the odometer and we take it to the shop and spend several hundred dollars on it at least twice a year.  So, I hope I’ve drummed up sympathy for our plight here.  And, if you know us, you know we Dave Ramsey disciples as far as not adding on debt goes anyway.  So, we’ll pay cash for a gently used car one day.  But, I don’t think that day is today.  Unless the twelve year old dies and few hundred dollars want fix it’s death, we won’t be getting a “newer” car.  And, here’s the reason.  I’ve been reading about Haitians that walk for hours to get their sick family members to a clinic for treatment of cholera.  And, I’ve actually been to Belize with a medical team where people walked for miles and miles just to see American doctors that were treating minor ailments.  If the people in these two countries have cars they are most likely older than the ones we have and leaking a lot more fluid than the ones we have.  So, what I’m saying is middle class America leads us to revel in comforts and luxuries while the rest of the world is just trying to survive.  I for one want to change that.  I want to acknowledge that I am blessed and then use what I have to bless others and help them transform their lives… pulling them back from the brink of both spiritual and physical death.

Conclusion of the matter
I am blessed.  We are all blessed.  Even people in America that make the 10 or 12000 thousand dollars it takes to be at the poverty line are blessed.  We are all waking up in the mornings and we have far surpassed the $2/day mark.  We have access to the best health care in the world.   Almost all of America has clean drinking water which solves most of the world’s disease problems.  Folks, we are blessed.  So, let’s connect our blessings with those in need.  Give your heart, your time, and your financial resources to change the life of another person for the better.

Much love.

Why don’t we pray?

For two successive nights this week, I woke up between two o’clock and three o’clock in the morning.  It was not because I wanted to; I just couldn’t stay asleep.  And, I found that when I woke up, I had a great burden to pray.  I prayed for my family; that I would be a better husband to my wife, loving and leading her.  I prayed for my son’s salvation.  I prayed that we would let God use our family however he wants to.  I prayed for the church.  I prayed for our church.  I prayed for our small group; for every person and for their children.  And I prayed for a lot more things like the mending of broken relationships and for wisdom…all kinds of good stuff.

Now, I am not boasting because I can tell you my greatest conviction for both nights was, “Why don’t I do this more often?”  And, by that I didn’t mean, “Why don’t I lay awake in the middle of night?”  I meant pray.   When friends who have had great trouble having a baby in the in the past says they are trying again, why don’t I say right then and there, “Let’s pray.”  When Kimberly and I are frustrated with each other, why don’t we pray?  And when God blesses us unexpectedly with his grace, why don’t we celebrate in prayer?   What arrived at is that I lack faith.  If I believed that God would do what he says he would do, I would ask him to do it.  And, that asking is prayer.

So i said to God, “Lord I believe! Please oh please, help my unbelief"

Much love!