the faith of a child

This happens in our house often.  I should really write about it more.  And everytime it happens I'm blown away.
Lucas prays.
ok big deal right?  Kids pray.
He's been in our home for almost 2 years, so it's not really a shocker that he prays right?

Well, that would be true if his prayers were basic prayers of typical kids that ask for things or says "bless mom and dad, the dog, the cats and the frog...and oh the big brother too". (he does add that kind of stuff to his prayers sometimes)
But, Lucas's prayers are different.

Detour with me for a moment.  Recently we have begun counseling with Lucas for a few reasons.  Some things just need ironing out.  And some things just need dealing with so he doesn't have to carry certain burdens into adulthood.  We've learned from some parenting bleeps that when we notice something, we shouldn't put it off.  We need to deal with it.  I don't want to enter the teen years with Lucas without having properly dealt with a few things.  The reason I mention counseling is because his counselor mentioned to us that one of his issues could be a receptive language issue.  These kiddos are so great at fooling us into thinking they understand everything because their verbal language skills take off at such a rapid pace.  But, the reality is, receptive language still lags sometimes.  That can cause a lot of frustrations for them.  Even an awareness on our part of that issue has helped us to deal with some things in a more direct way with him.  (ie talking about having a girlfriend, etc....he doesn't really completely understand what he is talking about).

Now, let's just assume he still has some gaps in receptive language.  One would think then that something like spiritual talk and prayer would be a hard thing to comprehend and really understand especially if you've never experienced it in your life prior to 2 years ago.

But, I am telling you, the Holy Spirit is at work in this boy.  Is he perfect? NO!  Is his behavior always reflective of a true believer? NO! Does he live his life every moment of every day as if he sees Jesus walking right beside him? NO!  But, do any of us really?  We attempt to but we all have our issues right? We are sinners that fall short of God's Glory.  But, Jesus continues to let us return. And likewise with Lucas.

A few nights ago we had one of those nights that I really had to take pause.
We were praying at bedtime.
And Lucas took over the prayer. Shocking really.  (ha)
He is always concerned about Isaac and believing in Jesus.
Since the "girlfriend" thing was at the front of his mind tonight, he prayed that Isaac would find a girl/wife someday that beleives in Jesus.  And of course that Isaac would too.  This weighs very heavily on Lucas's heart.  He is very concerned for his older brother's spiritual condition.  And if/when that changes...Lucas is going to be the first one in tears.  He continues to pray in faith for his brother.
His heart is always concerned for those that do not know Jesus.  So watch out, because if you don't and you know us, you are probably going to be prayed for, just sayin'.

His prayers are always so genuine.  His heart is so tender toward the Lord.

Then there is Baptism.
Obviously, Lucas has not been baptized because he only recently learned about Jesus.
But, when our church does baptism, it also involves a profession of faith and observation of the amazing things God has done in people's lives.  Some of these are children.  Most of the time during the baptism portion the kids are not there because they are in the kid programming.  But, sometimes Lucas likes to come in to the worship part of church before he goes to the kid stuff.  The last 2 times the "tanks" have been set up and Lucas has seen them, he has gotten SOOO excited.  He says, "I wanna do that"!  Now, this cannot be taken lightly, but oh my goodness.  He is so excited to think he could potentially be baptized.  How many of us are that excited?  Again he blows me away.  We will be talking to him further about it's meaning and commitment, etc.  but my heart just leaps for joy when I think about what the Lord is doing in his life.

i love this boy.