Emphasis Preaching Journal

Madeleine L'Engle tells the following story in Questions of Faith. "I remember a time of crisis when we were almost at war with Russia. Listening to the news, my husband and I couldn't hide from our children that we were anxious. That night we put our four-year-old to bed, and he said his prayers -- all the 'God Blesses,' for aunts, uncles, cousins, animals, and so forth -- and all of a sudden he stopped in the middle and said, 'And God, remember to be the Lord.' "Afterward I thought, 'I don't have to teach this child anything. He's got it all' " (The Living Pulpit, Jan.-March 1995, p.