The Love of a Child

Every month, our neighbors host a time of prayer in their home. Our main focus is to pray for our neighbors and for the work God is doing in our neighborhood as we are all learning to live in community and love the people around us (for those of you who don't know about Parker Street, read this article for some background info). Usually Scott will go and I will stay home with the kids, but we decided yesterday that we would attempt to take the kids with us (actually, I decided and somehow talked Scott into it). Caleb is certainly old enough to listen and even participate, and even though the girls can be a bit distracting, we still think it is important for them to be there and be a part of what was going on. Our neighbor Cat asked Caleb if he had anyone in particular he wanted to pray for and he, of course, gave the standard answer of "my mommy and daddy." We told him that we were praying for all of our friends in the neighborhood just like at bedtime every night and he started getting all shy and timid and didn't want to pray... No surprise since there were about 10 sets of eyes all on him - he really does get nervous in situations like that. So then at bedtime when Scott was praying with him, he said he wanted to pray for the neighborhood. Here is what Caleb said:

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for our neighborhood. Thank you for bringing us to our neighborhood. Please give our neighbors money so they can buy food and dresses for the girls. I pray for Mariah and Trinity and their mommy and daddy (the people next door). I pray for Caleb and Ella and Scott and Trisha and Lillian Ruth. I pray for our neighbors Cat and Michael and Tim and Christy. I love Christy and she loves me. In Jesus' name, Amen." I am so excited that he has a genuine love for our neighborhood and the people in it - we could all learn from his example.

On a lighter note, he also told Scott that one day he wants to marry a girl. Scott said, "that's good Caleb - when you get older and you find someone you love and someone who loves Jesus, you can marry her." Caleb pointed to Ella and said, "Not her, because she's my sister and she doesn't love Jesus!" (see post from April 6)