Spare Change

So, I’m back.  After what seems like forever, I give my faithful readers (all three of you) a new post!  Now, I could say life has been ultra busy and we have been running around with our heads cut off, but the truth is that I have been a bit lazy.  (No need to go and tell Tara.  She already knows!).  But while I might have been a bit slow to update our blog, a lot of great things are continuing to happen in our family’s life!

As most around me know, I had an amazing opportunity to serve in Honduras during the past summer.  God challenged me during the week (see here) and lead me and Tara to make some significant changes to how we lived and raised our children.  Around the same time, I begin reading a book that titled Radical:  Taking Back your Faith from the American Dream.  The book not only confirmed a number of things God was calling me to do, but it also challenged me to be more intentional with several areas of my spiritual walk.  One such area that stood out immediately was my need to “connect” and lead my family for a bigger purpose.  HIS purpose.  About a month after returning home from Honduras, I blogged about how our family was in the process of trying to connect in a more intentional way.  Our plan was to connect locally, regionally, and globally by committing to pray daily, give monthly, and serve annually (see here).  While connected to our church family at Hope Church, we were also able to connect with Springwater Community Church, located in Surprise, AZ, and Sparrow Missions, which organized and led my trip to Honduras. 

The results of our changes have been pretty amazing, but one thing that Tara and I learned quickly was that it was hard to convey this new “purpose” to our 5 and 2 year old kids.  They clearly don’t have the concept of money and it’s is very hard to explain taking a trip to Arizona or Honduras.  But the one action that has really been fruitful is the nightly prayer time we have developed with our kids.  One of the ideas we came up with was a “weekly prayer calendar,” which outlines specific prayer requests for each day  (See pic above).  It’s probably overly simplistic, but something that our kids can physically see.  We have included pictures of some of the people we pray for, while also trying to serve at local places so the kids can wrap their little minds around some of the people/places that are listed on our board.  Our prayer requests have ranged from the city of Surprise, to the Frankfort Soup Kitchen, to the Las Casitas girls orphanage in Honduras.  We have prayed for the safety and health of a little boy named Tavo who lives in Los Bordos, an upcoming dance recital for Katie in Arizona, and Mrs. Cross, who teaches Colby’s kindergarten class.

Our prayers have even lead our family to do more.  Our family has written letters to some of the children we have been praying for and we have sent packages to our friends in Arizona.  We have recorded video messages to encourage Gisella in Honduras, while also trying to bless Colby’s teachers with a periodic surprise.  With each note, video, or surprise we always share that we are praying for them.  And the stories are pretty incredible.  God’s timing is like no other.

Today, we find our prayer calendar getting overly crowded.  We have added an orphanage in Guatemala and a young student we are sponsoring in Africa.  We keep printing out prayer requests and keep adjusting our calendar.  Answered prayer requests become praises, replaced by new opportunities.  It might be overly simple, but it is connecting our lives to something bigger.  And prayfully leading our family to a better purpose.

So, if you find yourself reading this, please add the Cracrafts to your prayer list.  Pray that we will continue to move closer to God’s will and that we will obediently take the next step He has for our family.  We are blessed to serve Him and our only repsonse can be to follow.

God Bless, Bo