"And the frogs shall come upon you..." (Exodus 8:4)
I thought I'd tell you a little story about how the Lord used frogs to remind us of something we'd been meaning to do.
Emily's bedtime prayer really touched us last year after she was allowed to watch a World Vision-type television program while we were living in Florida last year:
We did the shoeboxes of gifts for Christmas, then promised when we had enough extra income we would support a child.
The Lord let us know when we were ready recently. It was in a strange way, though. He sent frogs.
Emily caught a Green Tree Frog near our door on September 1st. Since Luke is so allergic to cats and dogs, (and it makes his eczema act up), we thought it might be a good alternative pet if we could verify that he would eat in captivity. We named him "Green Hopper," bought him a simple aquarium and water dish and started feeding him crickets from PetSmart. They're only 8¢ apiece, so it seemed like he would be an inexpensive pet. I calculated that he was eating about 10 crickets every 5 days, so we had a way of keeping up with him. Then, Emily caught another Tree Frog. And another. And another. On Saturday, one literally fell out of the sky onto my shirt as I walked out the back door into the backyard. They were coming from everywhere.
Well, with five tree-frogs to take care of and cold weather approching, suddenly 8¢ per cricket didn't sound quite so inexpensive. If you do the math, that turns out to be $24 a month in crickets! That's when I got the message.
I made a deal with Emily: would you rather take care of 5 frogs or a child in another country? We found a little girl in Thailand, Saoyalak, just a year old, who lost her father in the Tsunami. World Help is giving us the opportunity to sponsor her for what it takes to feed five tree frogs in our country.
If you would like to sponsor a child in the name of Jesus, World Help is a great organization to partner with. You can select children by country, age, and gender. You can read their stories and see their photographs.
We chose Thailand for several reasons. The Tsunami in December devastated the southern part of the country and took the life of Saoyalak's father, making an already poor situation much worse. Thailand's economy is such that the average personal income is about 9% of the United States. Government corruption fosters the drug trade and every manner of vice: a major portion of the country's income comes from vice, and it's estimated that 20% of Thai girls will become involved in prostitution by age 17. It's also strategic from a spiritual standpoint, as a country in the 10/40 window whose population is only 1.62% Christian. We're praying Saoyalak will grow to be a testimony to the love and grace of God in this dark part of the world.
Emily's bedtime prayer really touched us last year after she was allowed to watch a World Vision-type television program while we were living in Florida last year:
Dear Jesus:
Please let our family help those kids on TV that have nothing. Please give them the biggest cup of water to drink and a potty seat for the kids and one for the Mama too and some toliet paper and let us send Luke's extra toothbrush (he volunteered) and some toothpaste and some soap. Please give them underwear, if they are boys give them underwear ,if they are girls give them panties.
Thank you that we have beds and please make a bed to fit in those giving boxes that folds out into a big bed,big enough for the whole family to sleep on and some tools to put the bed together and a soft cushion for the bed. Thankyou for our toys and please give those kids toys and a tv and then have someone give them a movie about you in their language so they will know about you.
Please don't let those kids step in poop in the field where they have no bathroom,if it looks like an ant hill to them but, it's really poop please let them know it's poop ...please give them a potty and a sink box with a big jar of soap that they can carry with them where ever they go. Jesus, just lead them out of that place,they don't need to live there. Bring those people, the whole family over here where we live, let us take care of them for 2 weeks in our house. Then I can give them a nice warm bath and some fresh cold water to drink and some yummy bread and all the food they want,they can play with my toys and have some of my clothes...( and mine too, Luke says)....
Please let us do 2, no 3...or 4...or even 5 of those boxes for the kids. Please dont let us get too busy and forget...please give them some seeds to plant and make food,I will send some apple seeds for them in the box from my next apple...thank you for all of our blessings...all of them...thank you for my Momma and Daddy and brother Luke...I love you. AmenWe did the shoeboxes of gifts for Christmas, then promised when we had enough extra income we would support a child.
The Lord let us know when we were ready recently. It was in a strange way, though. He sent frogs.
Emily caught a Green Tree Frog near our door on September 1st. Since Luke is so allergic to cats and dogs, (and it makes his eczema act up), we thought it might be a good alternative pet if we could verify that he would eat in captivity. We named him "Green Hopper," bought him a simple aquarium and water dish and started feeding him crickets from PetSmart. They're only 8¢ apiece, so it seemed like he would be an inexpensive pet. I calculated that he was eating about 10 crickets every 5 days, so we had a way of keeping up with him. Then, Emily caught another Tree Frog. And another. And another. On Saturday, one literally fell out of the sky onto my shirt as I walked out the back door into the backyard. They were coming from everywhere.
Well, with five tree-frogs to take care of and cold weather approching, suddenly 8¢ per cricket didn't sound quite so inexpensive. If you do the math, that turns out to be $24 a month in crickets! That's when I got the message.
I made a deal with Emily: would you rather take care of 5 frogs or a child in another country? We found a little girl in Thailand, Saoyalak, just a year old, who lost her father in the Tsunami. World Help is giving us the opportunity to sponsor her for what it takes to feed five tree frogs in our country.
If you would like to sponsor a child in the name of Jesus, World Help is a great organization to partner with. You can select children by country, age, and gender. You can read their stories and see their photographs.
We chose Thailand for several reasons. The Tsunami in December devastated the southern part of the country and took the life of Saoyalak's father, making an already poor situation much worse. Thailand's economy is such that the average personal income is about 9% of the United States. Government corruption fosters the drug trade and every manner of vice: a major portion of the country's income comes from vice, and it's estimated that 20% of Thai girls will become involved in prostitution by age 17. It's also strategic from a spiritual standpoint, as a country in the 10/40 window whose population is only 1.62% Christian. We're praying Saoyalak will grow to be a testimony to the love and grace of God in this dark part of the world.
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