Alligators

I may not know much, but this much I know, my God is a God of prompting, of mission, and a God who hears the prayers of his people.

Father God,

I lift up Melby to you Lord. Built a wall of protection around his heart, mind, body, and spirit. Father, I pray that you would protect him from alligators, or any sin that would entice him to harm him for the rest of his life. Father, be with his parents, that they would be strong in protecting him, and keeping him from harm. I pray for the village, that they would not be stagnant but be full of you, and that they would be active! That they would move with vigor toward your goals for them. I pray that they would look out for the safety of the young generations that will be the one's to bring change. Father, Lord....I pray for healing for Melby, that if he is hurt in any way, that you will take care of him. Father...I pray that if Melby is in danger of alligators that you would keep him and his siblings safe from harm. Father, be with their village, keep the village safe Father...protect them.

And finally God, I pray that if I'm called to action as a rescuer, that you would call me to be strong and courageous, that that strength would flow through me directly from you. Lord, help me to be ready, help me to move quickly, help me to remember what to do to save them.

I have absolute faith that you are in control Father. I have faith in my heart that you are a God that listens to the prayers of your people. You do act on our behalf. That is the kind of God you are.

Here's my explanation of the prayer.

I woke up this morning, a mere 10 minutes ago, from a dream that made me cry and made my heart sick. I had to pray. Here's what happened.

I was in an area, like a zoo, but I was at a zoo pond, open to the public. The pond was murky and shallow, all around it was dusty dry dirt. I was sitting next to a bench talking to an old man, about what, I don't know. I turned to look at the pond and the people around it, and I saw the reptilian spine of an alligator basking in the warm waters. A mother and her infant walked up to the pond as if to go for a swim, saw the alligator, and moved to a different area of the pond to go in. I was about to be alarmed by this course of action, that they would even be near the brown waters, when I looked again at the same spot. My beloved Melby, child of Guatemalan village San Francisco, one that I had become very attached to on my recent mission, was stepping into the water, a foot from the beast. I tried to scream at him, no sound came out...all I could do was watch. He sidled up next to the gator's head, the gator slowly came to understand there was something living, right next to his head. Melby then went deeper, and yanked the gator's tail. As you would see in any discovery channel show, the gator whipped his head back, mouth wide open and faced down the small child. Melby tried to run, but too slow, the gator snapped down on his left arm. My lifeguard instincts kicked in, to go and rescue him, but I was glued to the ground, unable to move, unable to make a sound, but just to watch in shock as my dear friend was attacked.

I woke up shaking....closed my eyes again, for just a moment...

and Melby was in my arms, and me running rescue drills through my head, and screaming to myself "I don't care if the scene isn't safe!" He was missing his left arm, and was unconscious in my arms. I woke up, told my mother, tears rolling down my cheeks as I retold it....she told me....Pray.