TWENTY-THREE
POWER FROM ABOVE
On October 4, 2004, Colby Lawrence Burpo entered the world. From the
moment he was born, he looked like a carbon copy of Colton. But as with
all kids, God had also made him unique. If Cassie was our sensitive child
and Colton was our serious one, Colby was our clown. From an early age,
Colby’s goofiness added a fresh dose of laughter to our home.
One evening later that fall, Sonja had settled in with Colton to read him a
Bible story.
She sat on the edge of his bed and read him the story as Colton lay
under his blanket, head nestled in his pillow. Then it was time for prayer.
One of the great blessings of our lives as parents has been listening to
our kids pray. When they are small, children pray without the showiness
that sometimes creeps into our prayers as grown-ups, without that sort of
“prayer-ese,” a language meant to appeal more to anyone listening than to
God. And when Colton and Cassie offered prayers in their plain, earnest
way, it seemed that God answered.
Early on, we developed the practice of giving the kids specific things to
pray for, not only to build their faith, but also because praying for others is a
way to develop a heart for needs outside your own.
“You know how Daddy preaches every week?” Sonja said now as she
sat beside Colton. “I think we should pray for him, that he would get a lot of
good study time in this week so that he can give a good message in
church on Sunday morning.”
Colton looked at her and said the strangest thing: “I’ve seen power shot
down to Daddy.”
Sonja later told me that she took a moment to turn these words over in
her mind. Power shot down?
“What do you mean, Colton?”
“Jesus shoots down power for Daddy when he’s talking.”
Sonja shifted on the bed so that she could look directly into Colton’s