may she rest in peace...

it was a cold december night in '91 when a lonely cat came to our door. mom said that if we feed it, they'll always come back. so the next day, the cat was back and dad broke down and gave her some food. mom was glad he didn't listen and we became a family. i spent most of my life with smokey, she was my best friend. she was sassy, sweet, loveable when she wanted to be, independent. i would come home and she would be the first thing on my mind, i couldn't wait to see her.

today, was the last day i could hold her and tell her i loved her.

may she rest in peace

today is national day of prayer

Prayer has been the focus of my life for awhile now. I get text messages asking, "please pray for me" all the time or emails asking for extra prayers for co-workers. One of the coolest things about working at World Vision, is that we have "devos" (time set aside in the morning to pray with your co-workers, very cool stuff). You can't go wrong with prayer; thats why its so good and so powerful. This morning, we went through all of the different aspects of National Day of Prayer, and these are the areas they have asked us to focus our prayers.


Government
We must continue to pray that God protects our way of life, asking that He would install in office men and women who are committed to serving their constituents with integrity. And we must remain in prayer for our elections, beseeching God to prompt our fellow citizens to become involved in this process.

Military
pray for the courageous troops who are actively serving our country each day ­ not only at bases around the world, but also here within our borders. Our soldiers daily place themselves in harm's way in order to defend the way of life we hold dear, and they desperately need our prayer support. Their families should be remembered as well. These individuals often make significant sacrifices as they endure long separations, frequent moves and other challenges inherent to military service.

Media
We encourage you to make our nation's journalists a subject of prayer. Ask the Lord to provide the television, radio and print mediums with staff members and executives who are committed to accuracy and integrity.

Businesses
continue praying that God will provide corporate America with business leaders who are committed to conducting themselves honorably.

Education
With this type of atmosphere pervading our classrooms, it's especially critical that we pray for our nation's public school teachers, administrators and students. Ask the Lord to raise up a new generation of dedicated educators who will commit themselves not only to an honest, accurate presentation of all subject matter, but who will also serve as positive role models for their students.

Church
Pray for the Lord to spark a revival throughout our nation, protect the witness of our pastors, and continue to sanctify and purify Christians around the world. We know that the spiritual condition of homes, communities and countries often points back to the believers within those regions. That being the case, it's all the more important that we strive after righteousness, corporately as well as individually.

Family
Please pray for the family to be preserved as the Lord intended ­ the marital union of one man and one woman devoted to each other and to raising the children in their home to be responsible, caring adults. Also keep in mind our elected leaders and the members of our judicial system as they consider proposed legislation and various court cases related to marriage and the family.

It's amazing to witness prayer work. We don't see it often, at least how we wanted it to happen, but its there. I don't know if anyone will actually read this, but if you do, and you feel moved to pray, please add these seven important areas of life to your prayer list.