Fire Trucks of Prayer

At 22 months of age Judah has a total obsession with fire trucks, for months he has been in love with buses but now it is the bright red hues, flashing lights and siren that causes joy to erupt from his little being.  There have been multiple mornings while he is still in bed and he will hear the siren and from his room I can hear him gleefully exclaiming “FIRE TRUCK!” Anywhere we go he makes sure to let Abba and I know if there is a fire truck afoot.  I love it! His excitement and joy for the little things is contagious.

One night as we were trying to put him to sleep we heard the sirens of a fire truck in the distance, which to Judah was completely distracting and in that moment I realized there was a lesson I could teach.  I decided to explain to Judah, that instead of just shouting, “FIRE TRUCK” at the wailing sirens he hears from a distance, he should take them as a reminder to pray.  When sirens go off they are heading to an emergency somewhere, and as important as emergency responders are, Jesus trumps them all.  Knowing that he probably did not get my explanation I began to say over and over, “Jesus, help. Amen.” I then asked Judah to repeat it after me and with a little time he started to.

I began to ponder the three words I was teaching my son to say over and over, “Jesus. Help. Amen.”  How often is that my go to prayer?  When I don’t know what to do or say, when I am at the end of my rope, when I am frustrated to no end, the words I utter from my lips are, “Jesus, help!” and when I remember I add a “please.” You know what, that prayer works!  It seems menial, unimportant and maybe a little weak since you can’t seem to put more effort into it but it is POWERFUL.  Christ doesn’t ask for a dissertation, pro con list and pie chart of why He needs to intervene, He just asks for an invitation into the situation.

I am not saying that extensive drawn out prayer has no place because it absolutely does.  Although Jesus doesn’t demand long prayers before He will show up in your situation, He does like them.  Just like a parent is drawn into their child’s world with the stories they tell or how one hangs on every word of their beloved, Christ too longs to hear what it is we have to say.  He wants to hear about every detail of our lives and He longs even more to share His perspective, love and discernment about them if we will allow him to.

Thank you Ben Saladino for use of your image!