Some friends of ours host an annual charity carnival at their ranch in the Central Valley.  It’s such a wonderful effort they put on all to benefit a worthy cause every year.  This year’s proceeds went to a ministry called Drawn from Water whose focus is rescuing and providing for tribal children in Africa who are facing mandated infanticide.

It was a hot day in the Central Valley today, with temps in the low-to-mid ’90s.  Nevertheless, the attraction of fun activities for a good cause drew us up, and in spite of feeling the heat, enjoyed horse rides, carnival booths and a good time with friends.  Here are some snaps from our time.

For me… ’twas closing the day in prayer with the boys.

And Matthew (my 8yo and our oldest) asked if he could pray as well, so I invited him to do so.

It went something like this.

Dear God… thank you for this day.

Thank you that Daddy could be blessed by the gifts we made him [they all made sweet father's day notes, some made several!]

I pray that you would help us be smarter…

[pauses, searching for the right words]

… and more intelligent…

[I'm chuckling inside]

… and most importantly, that we would be wiser.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Nothing could’ve made me happier than to hear this self-initiated prayer, especially as a Dad who’s been reading through Proverbs with the children daily and exhorting them to pursue wisdom and not folly.

That made a happy Father’s day for this dad!  May the Lord indeed answer this prayer in spades!

P.S. Here a couple snaps of some of the notes my children drew for me: