Like A Kite

        A young boy was playing outside in his sandbox. With a car in one hand and a shovel in the other, he drove and dug in the sand for a long time. As he played, he thought about the events of the night before and smiled. He was so happy he had taken the time to learn all those Bible verses. It had been a tough job and required many nights of study with his father, but Anthony was glad he stuck to it. His hard work had paid off. In the end, he had earned himself a brand new Bible, as well as a bright, red kite!
        As the afternoon wore on, Anthony grew tired of his sand games. He stood up and brushed the sand off his legs. It would be so much fun if he could fly his kite today! He decided to go find his father and see if he could take him to the field to fly his new kite. He found his father in the garage, working on the car. 
        "Daddy, may we go out and fly my kite?" Anthony asked. 
        His father looked up from the engine. "I don't think it would be a good day to fly," he told his son. "We need a really strong wind to do that."
        Anthony looked puzzled. "Why do we need the wind?"     
        "The wind is what carries the kite up into the sky. Without that wind the kite would remain on the ground."
        "How long will I have to wait for a windy day?" Anthony asked his father. 
        His dad smiled. "I do not know, son, but you could pray about it and ask the Lord to bring you some wind. He is the One Who controls the weather."
        Anthony liked that idea. He went inside the house and knelt down by the side of his bed. With folded hands, he closed his eyes and prayed for the Lord to send some wind so he could fly his kite. 
        That evening at dinner, his family gathered around the table to eat. Anthony ate his chicken and potatoes, but picked at his peas. He did not particularly like peas, but knew he had to eat them if he wanted the yummy brownies his mother had made for dessert. 
        "What's wrong, Anthony?" his mother asked. "You know better than to play with your food."
        Anthony glanced up. "I was thinking," he told her. 
        "About what?"
        "About why God did not answer my prayer and send wind." he answered. 
        His mother frowned. "Why did you ask God to send some wind?"
        "I wanted to fly my kite today, so I asked the Lord to bring some wind, but He never did. Maybe He did not hear me."
        "Anthony, look at me," his father said softly. 
        Anthony turned to look at his dad. 
        "Son, can you recite a few of those verses you studied so hard to memorize?" he asked him. 
        Anthony nodded. "Second Corithians 5:7, 'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' And Mark 11:4, 'And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.'"
        "That's good, son," his father commended. "Now, can you tell me what those verses mean?"
        Anthony thought for a moment. "It means I need to look to the Lord for an answer and not trust in what I see."
        His father nodded. "Yes, that is corrrect. When we pray, it is sending our request up to the throne of heaven, where Jesus sits. He already knows what we need before we ask, but He wants us to humble ourselves and ask Him for what we need. It is like a child asking his father for something. If we can give you good gifts here on earth, how much more will our heavenly Father give us good things? After we pray, we need to trust He is going to send the answer in the right time."
        Anthony thought for a moment. "You mean He may not send the answer right away?"
        His mother smiled. "When you tell me you are hungry and ask for something to eat, do I always give it to you?"
        "Not if it is close to suppertime," Anthony replied. 
        "Right," his mother agreed. "Sometimes the answer to your request does not come immediately, but you still get your answer. You just have to wait for it."
        Anthony pondered all they had talked about as his family cleaned up from dinner. He thought about it as he sat in the bathtub and washed all the sand off his body. He fell asleep that night with the verses about faith on his mind, and while he slept he dreamed about flying his kite so high that he could not see the bright red shimmering in the sun. 
        It was two days later when the wind blew into town. Anthony happily drove to the field with his father and they carefully opened the kite and got ready to fly it. Anthony watched the kite soar higher and higher into the sky until it disappeared into the clouds.
        "Dad, I'm scared! How do I know the kite is still there?" He did not want to lose his new gift!
        "Do you still feel something tugging on the string?" his dad asked him. 
        Anthony nodded. "Yes."
        "That's good. That means the kite is still there high above us, even though you can't see it. You have to trust the tug of the string that connects you to the kite."
         Anthony's eyes grew wide as he had a remarkable thought. "Hey, dad, I just thought of something!" 
        "What's that?" his dad asked. 
        "You know, faith is kind of like my kite!"
        His dad looked at him, waiting to explain. 
        "I had to let my kite go up into the sky in order to get it soaring, like my prayer, which I sent up to the Lord. The string that connects the kite to my hand, is like my faith that connects my heart to Him. Even though I can't see Him, or see the answer to my prayer, I can still feel the tugging and I know God is still there."
         With tears in his eyes, Anthony's dad gave him a big hug. "Yes, Son, faith is very much like a kite. I am so glad the Lord did not just help you memorize those verses, but He made them real to you too."    
        Are you still waiting for an answer to a prayer? Wait on His perfect timing and He will answer you in due time. Trust that tug of your heart that connects you to Him and know He will never let you go.
    
        

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