Enjoying the Journey

Last night as I was cruising around with my new DSL, I came to a site that had a live feed to IHOP's prayer center. I clicked on to live worship and kept it playing while I searched some more. Of course, I remembered that IHOP has a new House of Prayer right outside of Charlotte. It is called, Zadok House of Prayer. ZHOP is about an hour away from me.

When CJ and I began praying about schools, I really wanted to go out to Kansas City and go to IHOP. So I prayed that God would show us a school on the east coast that was similar to them. Long story made short, He revealed to us, FIRE School of Ministry. We were estatic.

Then a little bit later, after we were sure of our move, God revealed the next part of His hand, to me. He showed me that He had brought IHOP to the East!!!! IHOP has branched out and became ZHOP in the Charlotte area. I was doubly excited.

So, last night, I got online went to ZHOP's site and found what they were up to. As I was searching around the site, I found a prayer meeting for Hannah's and Samuels. It turns out that they have a two hour slot of time that is dedicated to moms and their kids. It is a time to teach kids about worship, to let them be free, to dance and play music, maybe paint, etc.

I couldn't believe my eyes! This is what I was looking for.... this was my "Mommy and Me" class that I was searching for.

The site said that they did this "prayer meeting" Tues, Wed, and Thurs, from 10-12.

So, this morning I got up. I had a purpose. We were going to Zadok and we were going to worship the Lord. I packed a lunch. Went online to Mapquest and got directions. I made sure the kids were up and dressed with breakfast in their bellies. We were out the door by 9am! And I was excited.

Of course, I told the kids what we were going to do. EJ was really excited. Oh, how he loves to worship the Lord! So, we went on an "exploration" to find ZHOP. We set out with great excited hearts.

Somewhere along the lines, I could tell things were getting a little hard. But I was going to push through.... The first sign was when I had this little nagging thought...that "we weren't in Kansas anymore." The second hint was when we landed in someones driveway. Well, this was definetly not the place.

Then I tried to ask 3 different people where Zadok was or even the name of the street. No one could help me.... I was starting to feel a bit stressed. But again, I was on a mission and we were going to go worship the Lord!!!

EJ, in his 100 questions of the day stage, had already asked me a dozen times, "Mommy, are we exploring?" So, of course he asked again and I patiently said, "yes dear, but I think I messed up on the directions." In his ever so brave way he commented, "that's okay, Mommy, you can get lost when you are exploring!!"

Well, it took a bit and a lot of stopping and asking people for help, but I finally found the road and even the parking lot. I then went to the wrong building, but they directed me to the right one.

Finally, I saw it, we were here! We made it to ZHOP and my kids were going to get 2 hours - no wait, only an hour and 45 minutes (b/c we were late, too) to worship! We walked inside and guess what????

There was no Hannah and Samuel prayer meeting going on! Nope.... nada... .nothing! They had decided to only have it twice a week and Thursdays weren't one of those days! And they hadn't updated the site yet.

Aghhh! Now what was I going to do? The kids were so excited, I was excited. We drove for over an hour to find this place. We got lost!!! We WANTED TO WORSHIP THE LORD!!!

I was trying really hard to be joyful about the situation and in fact all the people I talked to were great. Still, I had two kids who were looking to play with instruments, wave flags, hop around and praise Jesus!

We got in the car and talked it through. We decided that we could praise Jesus in the car, so we jacked up the worship music and let it rip! I was feeling better within 5 minutes.

And then I did what any good mother would do.... I took them to Discovery Place!

Next week, we will try it again. But this time, I know how to get there and I know what days it is on and what time it starts.

But today, we explored and sometimes explorations need a plan B. Discovery Place sure didn't replace worshipping the Lord for two hours, but is certainly entertained the kids!

Posted in: on Thursday, September 07, 2006 at at 12:58 PM