Praying for Anna - my city

Man, what a crazy day. It was pure chaos from beginning to end. Getting ready for Open House is insane. The first grade hall looks absolutely incredible. It is totally covered in black paper with stars on the lights and large astronauts floating all around. We are frantically scrambling to finish up some projects to throw on the kids’ desks to show off for the parents. I have been cleaning, and now last minute, hiding, my junk to make my classroom look good. It will be a mad dash to the very end tomorrow to finish all the preparations and then to get dressed up and ready to meet and greet all the parents. Today was also pretty crazy since I had a huge meeting in the middle of the day. Totally got 0 minutes for lunch. However, some of the first grade moms had brought in lunch for the teachers today, so I ate right in front of my students. This is not great manners, but it’s better than me being grumpy from lack of food. And there was sopapilla cheese cake. YUM! Needless to say, I’m very ready for Spring Break!

But my crazy life is not what I’m blogging about tonight. If I was guessing, I would say that most of my readers have lives that are equally crazy. You don’t have to teach to be busy and stressed and overwhelmed by your job. It seems that this is true of pretty much everybody that I know – whatever their career might be. So it is pointless to spend lots of time blogging about it all other than a rant now and then kind of clears my head so that I can write about more important stuff….like fashion abominations (see the archives).

I’ve rambled long enough…on to the blog…..

Tonight as I was driving home, traffic was moving pretty slow. I was thankful for this since my tires need replacing and tend to slip and slide in the rain. I threw in the latest CD from Worship Leader Magazine. The second song on the CD is “Floodgate” by Michael Neale. I’ll have to give it a second listen to let you know if it’s actually an awesome song or if God just used it to draw me into his presence tonight. The song is based on Malachi 3:10, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” I sincerely can’t tell you much about the song because before the first chorus I was so wrapped up in worship and prayer that I lost track of what the lyrics were or anything else about the song. Pretty sure I wouldn’t even recognize it if I heard it again.

As I was driving, I began desperately praying for Anna. As I prayed, I began to realize that Anna is MY city. My city that I have learned to love. Desperately and passionately love. I began to pray for my students and their parents, my friends and their families. I thanked God for connecting us with people in positions of influence in Anna. I prayed for our Easter Egg Hunt. I prayed for our launch team and the new members at The Crossroads. I prayed for our leadership, our staff. I was overwhelmed as I prayed with a strong sense of just how much God loves my city. He has beautifully connected us with people and developed relationships at speeds that I have not experienced before. Anna is no longer a spot on a map, or a city that I can quote demographics about, or a place where we are doing ministry. It’s a city that I am a part of. It’s a city made up of people that I am getting to know and learning to love.


As I cried and prayed, this is what ran through my head over and over, “See if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” God is bigger than my dreams and my imagination. Now I simply pray for God to reach my city and to let me be a part of that mission. However it is that He plans to do it. Just let me tag along on the journey. So cool to see God working.