Well, after a nice summer break for August we are back to it with a whole pile of exciting things in the diary for this Autumn.  What is it about Sept/Oct?  Such a busy and strategic time.  I think it must be the re-engagement after a break that makes it feel so busy and key.

  Just a quick thought today from an experience my wife had with our youngest son this past week.  She is very pregnant at the moment and has been having terrible headaches a lot.  A few days ago she was really fed up and was lying down upstairs when our youngest, Kaleb, climbed up into bed with her and could pick up on her frustration with the relentless disruption the pain was bringing.  Then he did something remarkable - he pressed his forehead to hers and prayed "Go away headaches... go away! go away! go away!... at least twenty or so times.  Korenne said he was vehement that she actually had to remind herself at one point he was talking to the headache and not her!

  But you know what?  The headache went.

  It is such a beautiful thing to see the heart of a child at prayer.  And Kaleb just wanted his Mummy to be well.  So his heart was engaged in his prayer.  I am not suggesting this is any kind of "magic bullet" but I wonder if COMPASSION is key to effectiveness in prayer.  Matthew 9 tells us that Jesus saw the people following him and "had compassion on them because they were sheep without a shepherd."  Having compassion in that verse is accurately translated as "his guts were contorted and twisted with empathy."  Jesus was affected.  Could this be fundamental to brokering the Kingdom?  Could it be that we need to be affected more and pray with a greater stake... with more boldness and with more passion?  Is there a stubbornness borne of desperation that can unlock some of the Kingdom into our worlds?

  Perhaps our prayers are too feeble?  Perhaps our understanding of The Good Father is too tenuous and so our boldness is non-existent?  Perhaps we need to tell the Darkness where to go sometimes!  Compassion may be a key to all of this.