Everyone, how you doing?
Happy Monday, if you are here in New Zealand,
or happy Sunday if you're most other places in the world.
But hope you're doing really well.
I just wanted to jump on here and share a quick story,
a cool testimony that happened over the weekend for us.
Just the story about God's goodness
that I think might just encourage some of you.
So over the weekend, it was Guy Fawkes here.
And the day before, the night before,
I had taken Jackson out to watch fireworks
because you can see quite a few going off
even the night before.
And he really wanted to get up closer to the fireworks.
And I had mentioned to him,
oh, maybe tomorrow we can buy some fireworks,
not realizing that they're probably all sold out.
And the next day, Jackson, he remembered my comment
and really, really wanted to get some fireworks.
So I looked online, had a really thorough search
and called around a few places.
And basically everybody was sold out
and couldn't find any and broke the news to him.
He was devastated.
He was very sad.
And I just said, I'm really sorry, bud.
There's nothing I can do.
And so, he pretty much wasn't really moving on,
wasn't really recovering.
And a little while later, he said,
I wanna ask God to make us some fireworks,
but my heart's too sad.
And I said, oh, would you like me to ask him for you?
And he said, yes, yeah, yes, please.
And so I prayed and I say,
hey, Jesus, if there's any way to help us get fireworks,
would you just help us get some fireworks?
And as soon as I was done praying,
my wife, Anna, had a sense.
She just said, I feel like you're supposed to go check
over by Palmer's, which is a plant shop
kind of up the road from us a little ways.
And I said, okay, I guess, why not?
So I grabbed Jackson, we jumped in the car
and we drove up the street.
And sure enough, we're exactly where she said to look.
There was a sign that said fireworks for sale.
And we bowled in and just out of a little laundromat,
there was some people selling fireworks.
And there's about seven people in front of us.
And so we waited in line.
And as we were waiting, one of the shop owners came out
and said, we're very low stock.
We might be out by the time you get here,
you're welcome to wait in line,
but we might not have any left
by the time you get to the front.
And so we just waited.
And by the time we got to the front,
there was just a few left.
And as I was waiting in line,
the people behind me, I heard them saying,
this is the last place I heard in the whole city
that has any fireworks left.
I drove from the other side of town
to come all the way out here just to get some fireworks.
And it was just the funniest thing.
And we just happened to get some of the last fireworks
and Jackson was very happy.
And as we were driving home, I just said,
hey, buddy, isn't that really cool?
That it didn't look like
we were gonna be able to get fireworks.
And then we asked Jesus to help us
and he got us some fireworks and he was just really amazed.
And a few minutes later, he just said,
hey, dad, I think God's real.
And he was just very optimistic
and just like, wow, this is amazing.
And I just love that story
because it just shows how much God cares
about the desires of our hearts.
And in my mind, I was kind of thinking,
I wasn't very optimistic, but God cares.
He actually really cares about those little things.
He doesn't just give us what we need.
He actually gives us the desires of our hearts
and what we want.
And one of the questions I get asked a lot
is what's the best way or what's a way
to help our kids to develop a relationship with Jesus
that will last?
And I think one of the best answers
that I know of to that question
is to give your kids experiences with the goodness of God.
And in order to do that,
we just have to be really good at being spirit led
and get good at hearing his voice and learning.
learning his nature and his nature is good and kind, you know, and, and so the way that we get good at being spirit led is partnering with that reality of the goodness of God the Father, and he's a kind and good and caring father who gives us the
desires of our hearts, you know, and so now Jackson has a story that he's going to remember for the rest of his life where God showed up and did something miraculous, and it really meant a lot to him.
It really meant a lot to him in a very personal way. And it was really it was actually really cool for all of us and it's very encouraging it's really powerful it's really cool story of how the Lord showed up and, and just wanted to bless Jackson.
And, and so, yeah, I hope that encourages you just a little, just a little testimony about the goodness of the Father. And, you know, it's just that it's a very effective way and actually leading our kids into relationship with Jesus is to is to be
able to lead them in these experiences with his goodness, you know, it's probably one of the most effective ways to do that so.
Anyway, hope that encourages you I know it encourages us encouraged us and I've been doing well, and I'll leave you with that hope you guys have a great week, and we'll catch up with you again soon.
All right. Cool. Thanks. Cheers.