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There was this man and his family who lived in a home by the river. One day this man goes out and purchases the most beautiful boat any one had ever seen. This boat was first class in every way and was the envy of the neighborhood. The motor in this boat was so powerful, that it could withstand any water current that it might come up against.

One Sunday there was a flash flood on the river, and the river begun rising at an extremely high rate. This however was no problem for the man and his family, because they just simply jumped into their powerful boat and rode over to the banks of the river where it was dry and then moved up higher where they new they would be safe on dry ground. From their new safe vantage point they could see the whole neighborhood with a few of their other friends who also had boats that could get them to safety.

As they looked out over their neighborhood, they could see a family who had not owned a boat. The family was trapped up on the roof of their home. While they watched, they noticed that the waters had risen to half way up the side of the home and was rising quickly. Out of concern for the threatened family, they and their other friends came together in a circle and began praying. For thirty minutes they prayed and called out to the Lord. As they prayed, they asked that the Lord would make the waters go down and cause the ground to dry up around the house so that this endangered family stranded on top of their roof might be able to walk away in safety. Then they turned to see if the Lord had answered their prayer, they noticed instead that the river had now risen to cover 70% of the home.

So they started back into their prayer meeting and began praying to the Lord that if He wasn’t going to make the waters go down, then would He please send a rescue helicopter that this family might be able to climb to safety. For another 30 minutes they pleaded and prayed that the Lord might answer their prayer. When they turned around to see what the Lord had done, they noticed instead that the river was now covering 90% of the house.

Now they returned to their prayer meeting on behalf of this truly desperate family about to be swept away by the rushing currents of the river to their death. As they prayed, they said Lord, we asked you to make the river go down that this family might cross over to safety and you have not done it. Then Lord, we prayed that you might send a helicopter that they might climb up to their safety, and you still haven’t done that. So now Lord, we return to you requesting that you might send somebody with a boat to rescue these people. When they finished praying they turned just in time to see the family being swept off by the raging waters to their death.

Finally the river went down and the families in the community eventually returned to the normalcy of their lives. One day the man with the boat died and went to heaven to be with the Lord. When he came into the presence of the Lord, he said Lord there is one thing I just don’t understand. How come when we prayed for that family that was trapped by the flooding river that you might rescue them by drying up the river, you chose not to. Then when we prayed that you might send a helicopter that they might fly to safety, again you chose not to. Then we prayed that you might send someone to them with a boat that they might ride off to their safety but again you chose not to. Instead You allowed those people to be washed off by the raging river to their doom. Why Lord?

^{God has given us a beautiful boat and motor
in His Son Jesus Christ. In Jesus, what we possess is the envy of the
world. In Jesus, what we have is salvation for the world. The rivers of
life are flooding over and destroying many lives. These people need hope
and they need rescuing. Let us not be guilty of hogging our boats from
those in need. We need to pray a lot, but prayer should be changing us to
want to share the love of Jesus to people that need Him. Let’s not pray
send somebody else. Instead let us pray, “Lord send me”.}

The Alter Call

Sitting here at the alter wondering why you would wanna come in and clean a soul like mine. I feel as if I have done so many things wrong, but still you are finding and making time for this little black heart of mine. I always do what my crazy mind tells me to do, and when it comes to thinking about You, my mind tells me all the better things to do. But Lord, when I am at this alter, I feel as if my soul has been lifted and I can do the things that I wanna do and, Lord, that is to worship and get closer to You. Now, if only I could tell my mind all of this, everything in life would be good. Oh Lord, all of this praying is making me feel as if I could do anything. Well, I am gonna do something I should have done a long time ago. Oh crazy mind of mine, I think it is about time I turn you over to a friend of mine. Yep, that is Him, my Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you alter and thank you God for helping me take care of my stubborn mind.

Written by

Sophie Lorraine Freeman.