Coveting Prayers

Have you heard the christian-ese phrase, "I covet your prayers"? As Laura and I were traveling home from a very full week I started thinking about the idea of coveting someone's prayers. The more I thought about it, the more it finally started to make sense to me.

Last week, Laura and I spent nearly every day meeting, then eating, meeting, then eating.
What can I say, it was a good week. Actually, it was a great week. We went with very few expectations, and not only were we blown away but we came away greatly encouraged and extra excited about heading off to Germany. We were given a greater sense of vision for our ministry. A picture of daily life in Germany was painted for us in great detail. And we met some really great people that we are thrilled to be working with in the next school year.

Laura and I originally thought about going because we saw a need in the Christian community that we knew we could fill. It thrilled our souls to think about how we could use our skills and interests to serve others throughout the world serving to further God's kingdom. As we have worked toward that goal of serving at BFA we have learned that we are responsible for so much more than just teaching. As one of the leaders of the last week, Harold, said, if we don't bring Christ to the center of teaching then we don't bring anything. We have also been shown ways that we can minister to the German community in Kandern, to the staff at BFA, the parents of the students, and to the students themselves in ways that go beyond the classroom.

As for the people, I didn't think much about who we would be meeting. In fact, I was so concerned with us that I never even worried about making friends (or not) or if there would be others close to us in age. So just know that I have been truly blessed by the people we met. Some wised by the benefit of many years; others wise enough to know when to stay off the ultimate Frisbee field and when to go to bed; others who are still foolish to think they can play on the Frisbee field and stay up late without feeling the effects; and then those lucky few who don't feel the pains of foolish bodily exertion and who still have the youthful lust for every moment. Those that we met are filled with the love of God and all were filled with an excitement and a joy about the coming year (and for some-years) of serving at BFA.
Out of 29 people, 26 are going to BFA and that brings me back to my original point of coveting your prayers. There are 6 billion people on this earth, all of whom are in need of prayer. There are hundreds of countries who all have leaders who need prayer. There are thousands of organizations, churches, youth groups, individuals who are all in need or prayer, and even if we were all able to train ourselves to pray without ceasing it still seems like a nearly impossible task to pray for all who need it. And so, with all of this in mind, I realized that I really do covet your prayers. I want you to be praying for Laura and me. I want to be on your prayer list because we have seen that prayer can work, and since it does work we want it to keep working for us.

With that said, our 27 new friends who are all going out to serve this summer all need prayer. We know that prayer is not a competition- those with the most prayers get cuts in line to appeal to God first-but we know how many people there are who need it, how many situations desperately need to be covered in prayer before God. And still, Laura and I covet your prayers. But while you are praying for us, consider asking for God's blessings on all 29 JTM members, their financial needs, and all of the parents and students that we will be working with in just a few short weeks. Don't worry you don't have a daily quota that you will be at risk of using up!