As a pastor, folks often sympathize about the challenges my kids face but it's not always what you might think...

Last week, just days after the Virginia Tech shootings, an armed man entered a conference room at the Johnson Space Flight Center and no one knew what was going on.  A friend of mine has a son who works in that very same building and after many unsuccessful attempts to reach him by phone, she called to ask me to pray for his safety. 

I hadn't heard the news, so she filled me in on what she knew and what she had tried. And then we prayed. As we were praying, she interrupted me to say, "I have to go--my son is calling on my cell phone!" Her prayer was answered even before the "Amen" and at last she knew that he was safe.

What's that got to do with my kids? Well, my oldest daughter was sitting across the desk from me and heard the whole thing.  Now, normally I'd have shooed her out but in this case there just hadn't been time.  And as I put the phone down and tried to bring my own emotions in check, I looked up to see her eyes glistening with tears and realized that she'd just witnessed the effectiveness of prayer and just how good our God is.  She'd had a front row seat for the whole amazing thing!