Wrestling with God...

It's been a week. That's the only way to describe it. Why do we wrestle with God? We know we won't win, but sometimes our human nature just takes over and we think we are right.

Kevin and I have struggled with whether or not to be Sunday School teachers at church. We still haven't officially joined the church, but yet, were feeling the calling to be a part of that ministry. And low and behold we get a call from someone, asking if we would be willing to teach. After praying about it, we decided that as long as they understood that sometimes the weather wouldn't allow us to make it up to Sioux Falls, that we would agree to team teach a grade, but we had no idea what grade it was. We had prepared ourselves for kids Kaylie's age and younger. Wednesday night, we were asked to attend a Sunday school teacher training meeting. They brought us our materials, and both of us were not prepared to get materials for 5th graders. She asked us if that was ok, and Kevin's respose was "wherever God needs us to teach, that's what age group we will teach." After choking back the emotions, I shook my head yep, that's fine. We have been so blessed by the ministry at Good News. And now it's our opportunity to try and give back. We covet prayers as we prepare for this age group. We have no idea what kinds of questions will come our way, but know that God will help us as we prepare lessons each week. It amazes me the depth of Jordan's faith - the questions that he is asking, the Biblical knowledge that he has already. And these kids are older than he is. Can I do this? And then this morning, pulled out the teacher's manual and began to look at this quarter's curriculum. Old Testament stories - the great ones that define how powerful our God really is. We just read about how Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea with our family last week, and guess what the first lesson is about. Our kids had so many questions about it - I truly feel that God was preparing my heart for the teaching of other kids. How appropriate that this would be the first lesson that we will teach together. And Kevin's willingness to help with the Sunday School class - what a blessing. At the meeting, he told the Education Director that he felt "out of place because he was the only male at the meeting." She assured him that there were other male teachers who just weren't at the meeting, and she chose us for 5th grade because there were some children in that class who came from single parent homes and that a male teacher in Sunday School could have a huge impact on their lives. And wow, is he taking that seriously.

"I lift up my eyes unto the hills, were does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth." This Psalm has hit me this week, as I have heard "I will Praise you in this Storm" by Casting Crowns so many times while listening to the radio. Things at the dairy have just been hard this last year, with prices being so depressed. It is hard for me to see Kevin work so hard for absolutely nothing in return. I know that he loves what he does, and that is what keeps us going. And we have given it over to God. Jordan introduced us to a movie about a year ago, "Facing the Giants". It's a football movie, so I was hesitant to watch it, but if you haven't seen it, it is absolutely amazing. The first time we watched, there were tears in everyone's eyes. But the message that came out of this movie - "We will praise God when we win, and we will praise God when we lose" - has been our family's motto since we saw it the first time. I think that's all that God asks of us - to love him wholeheartedly, and to praise Him in every aspect of our lives. And to watch our family try and live that motto out has been humbling, and so extremely uplifting.

As we prepare to teach 5th graders this Fall, I can't help but ask myself - what can I learn from them?