{"id":2078,"date":"2014-10-16T05:47:04","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T11:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2014-10-14T14:13:19","modified_gmt":"2014-10-14T20:13:19","slug":"ask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/?p=2078","title":{"rendered":"ask"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo2\"<\/a>Starting with Taylor in the early 1990\u2019s, I\u2019ve pitched tennis balls to our kids in the driveway as batting practice. (We have the best neighbors in the world.) For months, ten-year-old John has tried to reach a goal that I was beginning to think impossible. If he could hit a ball as far as a house across the street (the one on the left in the picture), I would take him to get a treat. The first challenge is the distance but the greater challenge is the narrow gap he has to hit in order to avoid bushes, trees, and other obstacles. After literally thousands of attempts, John never reached the goal\u2026 until last week.<\/p>\n

After thirty or forty swings, out of the blue, John said, \u201cDana, I think we need to pray.\u201d I laughed to myself and agreed with him. \u201cGreat\u2026 go ahead and pray.\u201d John said, \u201cNo, you do it.\u201d So I prayed out loud on our driveway that a little boy could hit a ball to a certain place in our neighbor\u2019s yard. Within ten pitches the goal was accomplished. We ran to the spot, confirmed the measurement, and celebrated with great enthusiasm. John yelled, \u201cThank you God!\u201d After going in the house to tell Susan, we headed to Smoothie King.<\/p>\n

Right in the middle of Jesus\u2019 instruction to love one another, He talks about asking for things of the Father in His Name. \u201cYou did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit \u2013 fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.\u201d (John 15:16)<\/p>\n

I imagine God knows that as we mature, we\u2019ll care about far more important matters than children\u2019s games, but John took the preliminary step we often omit\u2026 he remembered to ask.<\/p>\n

On the road to Jericho, a beggar cried out at the top of his voice when he heard Jesus was near: \u201cJesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!\u201d Without reading the story we would probably guess that Jesus healed the man. He did\u2026 but first He asked a question: \u201cWhat do you want Me to do for you?\u201d The man replied, \u201cLord, I want to see.\u201d (see Luke 18:35-43)<\/p>\n

Jesus invites us to ask. Even though we know God sees our situation and knows all things, we are to ask. Ask like a child of God, ask like a persistent widow, ask like a friend of Jesus\u2026 ask like a ten-year-old boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Jesus told the disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.\u201d Luke 18:1<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I say to you: Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!\u201d Luke 11:9-13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starting with Taylor in the early 1990\u2019s, I\u2019ve pitched tennis balls to our kids in the driveway as batting practice. (We have the best neighbors in the world.) For months, ten-year-old John has tried to reach a goal that I was beginning to think impossible. If he could hit a ball as far as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2078"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2082,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions\/2082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}