Dear Friends

I love to tell my children bedtime stories and sometimes I take a Bible story that Jesus told and reinvent it a little to make it funnier or more imaginative. They love it of course. Here is a story I told my children last night. (taken from Luke 11)

Once upon a time there was a man with a beautiful wife and 3 lovely children. It was late at night and they were all fast asleep when suddenly there was a knock on the door. Uncle Joe and Aunty Sandy had turned up for a suprise visit..........at 11:00 pm at night. To make matters worse, they had no plans of leaving but were resolute in staying for the night and also wanted to know what there was to eat. Unfortunately there had not been a chance to do the weekly shopping and there was precious little in the cupboard to eat.

They didn't want to dissapoint their guests so they thought they might ask their next door neighbour if they had some bread, cold meat and salads. However both neighbours lights were turned off and obviously fast asleep, the shops were closed for the night..........what were they going to do? They decided there was nothing to do but wake the neighbours.

They knocked on the door but no response. They knocked louder...........finally someone coming to the door. "What do you want" said a very tired and grumpy man. "We are hoping to borrow some bread, cold meat and salads" said the Father. "Go away and give us some peace, its the middle of the night" said the irritated man, and slammed the door. So being rather innovative, the family decided to gather their pots and pans and began banging them loudly right outside thier neighbours door.

"Ding dong, clang" (imagine loud raucous noises) .................needless to say it was not long before they were furbished with bread, cold meat and salad. So they were able to feed their relatives because they perservered with their request, albeit via very unnusual methods.

God of course expects us to do the same with our prayers to Him. He wants to see us perservere and continue to be bold with our requests. He promised in Luke 11 that if we continue we will certainly get what we are asking for. No doubts about that.

Bless you a million
Cheers
Your Mate - David