On a wing and a non-prayer

I just re-read my last post, and I have to admit something: that day was rare.  All those "Prayer" inserts do not happen frequently.  When I just read that I thought "how arrogant; you don't do that all the time."  Case in point, Wednesday, when this happened:

My down-the-street neighbor, Lynn, was in our yard with her boxer, Scout.  Rosco and Scout were playing, chasing each other and practically knocking Lynn and I over.  (That's just what happens when two big dogs are owned by two small people.)  Addison was just standing on the driveway watching, laughing at the dogs, and barking at them.  Cute, right?  Well, the dogs got closer and closer, and I stepped in front of Addison when Scout ran by, but didn't even think to when Rosco came bounding towards us.  Rosco nicked her shoulder and she hit the pavement face-first, with her arms out behind her.  There was blood - so much blood!  And screaming (Addison), and running (me), and barking (the dogs), and crying (both of us).  Lynn ran in front of me into the house and got ice and towels and helped me figure out where the blood was coming from.  She told stories about her kids and their multiple facial injuries, and sang to Addison, and prayed out loud.  Not like, "okay, I'm going to pray. 'Dear Jesus'..."  In the middle of her sentence, while I was on the verge of tears and saying "what do I do? what do I do?"  Lynn just said "Sweet Jesus!  Make her feel better and help it stop bleeding!"  She simply cried out, then went on with her story.  It didn't even occur to me to pray.  In fact, I was surprised by hers.  That makes me embarrassed of myself.  I'm ashamed to admit that an acquaintance from down the street thought to pray for my child before I did.  The entire situation was so beyond my control, and while I was scurrying around trying to fix it and help my daughter, prayer didn't even cross my mind!  It did the other day, during the "small" things that happened, but not during this.

After several minutes, Lynn went back outside to track down our dogs.  I called Brad's mom to come check it out, then called the pediatrician.  That afternoon, Addison was back to trying to chase Rosco.  She looks a lot closer to normal now, and I'm trying to be a little more careful.  I'm so thankful for three things: (1) Lynn was there and taught me something.  (2) My mother in law lives close by.  (3) Kids are resilient and have short memories.

I finally finished Francis Chan's Forgotten God.  (Folks in Pensacola, it will be back in the FBCP library on Sunday for you to check out!  Sorry I've had it all summer.)  Something Chan writes in the last chapter struck me as important, and in light of my lack of prayer when I know it's power, applicable to me this week:

     "Our Scriptures teach that if you know what you are supposed to do and you don't do it, then 
     you sin (James 4:17).  In other words, when we stock up on knowledge without applying it to 
     our lives, we are actually sinning.  You would think that learning more about God would be a 
     good thing... and it can be.  But when we gain knowledge about God without responding to 
     Him or assimilating His truth into our lives, then it is not a good thing. According to the Bible it's sin."