Love is consuming

On Saturday, Jordan Schroeder entered the heavenly gates and stood in the presence of His Lord. Before he did, he and Katelyn gave everything they hoped and dreamed of to their Heavenly Father. Read their post - http://jkschroeder.blogspot.com/ - When I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Cor 12:10

This morning is his funeral. As I was going about the house praying for Katelyn and their families this morning, I heard this song on the radio:

“You Can Have Me”
by Sidewalk Prophets

If I saw You on the street
And You said come and follow me
But I had to give up everything
All I once held dear and all of my dreams
Would I love You enough to let go
Or would my love run dry
When You asked for my life

When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
You can have me

If You’re all You claim to be
Then I’m not losing anything
So I will crawl upon my knees
Just to know the joy of suffering
I will love You enough to let go
Lord, I give you my life
I give you my life

When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
You can have me

I want to be where You are
I’m running into Your arms
And I will never look back
So Jesus, here is my heart

When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
You can have me

When did love become unmoving?
When did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me
Father of love, You can have me
My Father, my love
You can have me

Competitive Hide and Seek

In some families, Hide and Seek is a game for toddlers/preschoolers and their reluctant parents. Not in our house. At the Rassi house, one person hides and everyone else tries to find him/her. To make it a challenge, we start a timer when we start looking. Whoever stays hidden the longest, wins. And I have to say – the kids aren’t the only ones who get way into this.

Exhibit one, unmade bunk beds:

Exhibit two:

The time: 12 minutes.

He sure hides well for a big man.

Praying with Alyssa

I LOVE little kid prayers. They just lay it all out there. They also have the tendency to not understand the whole picture - & when you add those two things together, praying with little kids is pure joy :). Case in point:

A few years ago the kids and I started praying for imprisoned pastors in China. Every day we pray for their needs (food, strength, etc). Then last year we went to Magdalena and spent quite a bit of time with Bill and Joan Schick, so they have also been added to our prayer list. Lately, Alyssa has been getting the two kind of mixed up, so her prayers sound like this - "God please bless Tien Chi Yang & Ai Ping, and please give Bill & Joan a bowl of rice to eat."

We have also been praying for Pearl - an awesome, godly woman we had the opportunity to meet who is a part of the illegal house church movement in China. Among a number of other requests, Pearl asked us to pray that her church would grow. Nearly every night since Alyssa has prayed, "God, please help Pearl's house church grow with red." After a while, we had to ask her what she meant, and she very confidently explained, "Well, we want Pearl's house church to grow and if it's going to grow, I think it should grow with red bricks, not white ones, cause red is a lot prettier for a church." :)

Maybe I should let the building committee know.