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 July/August 2001

Dear Saints:

Boy, what a fantastic weekend we just had at Zion City Church! The Power Surge Team is probably back home in Louisiana by now but their gift is just starting to grow here in St. Louis where they planted it. Thank you Herb and Anita (and of course Frolica) and the rest of the Power Surge Team. We will miss you but we are looking forward to seeing you guys again soon!!! We at Zion will continue to keep this vital ministry in our prayers, as they will us.

The other day I was running around Francis Park when I noticed a father and his son playing baseball. It was different than the little league game I had run by earlier at Lindenwood Park. In that park the parents were yelling at their kids to keep their eyes on the ball, or other instructions of correction. Those parents were focusing on perfecting the skills of the game in their sons and daughters. You could tell some of them felt they had the next Mark McGuire living in their house, seeing how intensely they focused on the child’s batting swing. But the father and son I saw at Francis Park were just enjoying each other. The child was about the same age as the other boys in the little league, but unlike them, he couldn’t care less about his batting stance. His dad didn’t seem to care that the boy missed the ball again and again with his awkward swing. They just laughed it off and the boy would retrieve the ball, throw it back to his dad and the whole game started over.

You see, the father in Francis Park with his son was not working on perfecting his son’s baseball game, rather he was working to perfect his own relationship with his son. He knew that his son would probably not be the next Mark McGuire and that he would probably not be a professional baseball player, but he would always remain his son. So it made a lot of sense to work on the relationship that would be around throughout eternity, that of a father and a son. Today we have a lot of fathers who have sons that look good swinging a bat or shooting a basketball but lack the ability to communicate with their own dads. Help us, our Heavenly Father, to see our children as the greatest gifts you have ever given us, and let us work on our relationships with them so that in the end we will share a lasting relationship forged in love - a relationship that focuses on love and acceptance rather than criticism.

As always, I look forward to worshipping with you at Our Father’s House, in the presence of the greatest Father of all.