My report on my granddaughter

It's a good thing to keep a promise, even if no one may remember it but me.

I had written recently that I would report back on what happened with my granddaughter at the Harvey Cedars Bible Conference on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Two or three of you surely remember the background: One night at a sleepover at my house, my granddaughter had prayed that she could go to a school "where they teach about Jesus." Humanly speaking that was out of the question, and I was going to steer the 5-year-old in a more reasonable direction for her aspirations.

But almost instantly I remembered that God always shows a preference for faith-ful people over "reasonable" people (See Numbers 13, 14 for starters). I also happened to be memorizing Psalm 25 at the time, in which David asks God at least three times (verses 2, 3, 20) to forbid that people who trust in Him be "ashamed." So the child and I joined our voices together to petition the Lord---one shaky prayer and one confident one.

Then some friends brought to my attention the Harvey Cedars week of surf and sermons. I saw it as another one of those outside-the-box answers to prayer that God is known for, and I started praying for the teacher.

Report from the front: The teacher of the 5-year-olds was fine, and the kids liked her and heard good things. I had been looking for fireworks but was very content for the mustard seeds.

Back in our room at the Victorian Hotel, I was tucking my granddaughter into her bunk and offered to read a bedtime story from the Read-Aloud Classics book I had brought along. She wasn't interested. She asked for stories about Jesus. I quickly grabbed my Bible (feeling a bit silly, like old Eli must have when he was slow to recognize God's call of little Samuel). I opened to Mark, which I knew to be the gospel with the fastest action (for short attention spans). I used it as a guide and told my granddaughter one story after another about Jesus and all He did.

I needn't have worried about attention span. I read for about an hour, to an audience of one in rapt attention, stopping only for requested elaboration. Finally, she said she wanted to go to sleep now, and promptly conked out, her grandmother glad that the last thoughts in her waking consciousness were of a woman believing she would be healed if only she touched Jesus' robe.

It went like that all week.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.