prayer is good

sometimes it is so clear to me that God has heard me and other days not so much. this week though is one of clarity. its amazing to think about prayer, that a God who is all powerful and all knowing asks us to pray. its a mystery and my head hurts when i think about it too much... so 2 life happenings that ryan and i have been praying about are affordable housing and a charter school. these are dreams that have been on our hearts for a long time. we can look back over the last few years and recall conversations about kingdom causes' owning property in some way to bless a family with a home. we also look back and see how my involvement in urban schools in st. louis, grand rapids, chicago and los angeles led us to dream about a charter school in bellflower.

so you pray and doors close and they open and you wait and you question and you wonder and you keep on praying. then this week we both experienced how God's timing is perfect and he answers.
on monday night i met with a group of about 10 Bellflower community members: social workers, pastor, teachers, moms, psychologist, business owners, city employee...to write a mission for a new charter school. amazing to me the talented and invested people God has put together into a team to start a new school. so we pray that in the fall of 2010 there will be a new k-6 school a few blocks away from our house. a place where kids from bellflower will discover an amazing educational experience and be nurtured to their full potential in all areas of life. still a lot ahead but the dream is becoming reality.
on tuesday ryan went to court with our friend and Kingdom Causes/Our Place Housing Solutions realtor Ioana to bid on a house. the house was in probate court (the owner died didn't have a will...). so they bid against 4 other parties and they got the house below what their highest bid could be. so now there is this run down, needs A LOT of TLC, house in Bellflower that will be made into a home for a family. amazing! it's also on a block with 2 families that are already connect with Kingdom Causes.
prayer is good and we are thankful.