Bouncy Ball

One year we had a holiday in Hong Kong for a few months with our Chinese family.
Most days I would take my young, (3-4 year old), daughter up on my shoulders to walk to the ice cream shop for a soft serve ice cream.
They kept the cones in a couple of stacks, and there were about 5 “random” colours.

I had been teaching my daughter about prayer, and on the way she prayed that she would get a pink cone today.
They just give you whichever one is on the top of the stack.
It was pink.

Every time we went she would pray on the way for the colour of her cone.
And every time, it was the colour she had prayed for.
(Btw… her name is Faith!)

So, another day we went down to a local shop where she had seen a vending machine for little bouncy balls. There were a couple of hundred balls in the machine, and on the way she prayed for a blue one.
We got there and maybe two of the balls were blue.

She turned the dial, and out came… a green ball! (I honestly was shocked. Especially after the ice cream cones I was sure it was going to be blue).
And the ball wasn’t even made properly. The two halves weren’t lined up with each other when they were stuck together.
And I suddenly thought, if I show the owners they might let me choose another, properly round, ball. And I can pick one of the blue ones.

But they didn’t. They were actually quite rude and just wouldn’t let me choose another one.
They had a cash box sitting next to their register which had a lot of coins in it.
I was so angry that they were ripping off my little girl. And when they wouldn’t help, I got so mad I threw the ball quite hard into the box, making quite a noise, and I walked off.

I put my daughter up onto my shoulders and headed home.
We had hardly gone far when I heard her little voice, “But now I don’t have any ball ☹️”

Oh man.

So we turned around, and talked some more about prayer on the way back.
She prayed “God, please let me have any ball, I don’t care what colour it is, I don’t even care if it’s not really round”.

She turned the dial, and a nice round ball came rolling out.

It was blue.


	Bouncy Ball
READING Matthew 18 Matthew 21 Hebrews 11 “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”	One year we had a holiday in Hong Kong for a few months with our Chinese family. Most days I would take my young, (3-4 year old), daughter up on my shoulders to walk to the ice cream shop for a soft serve ice cream. They kept the cones in a couple of stacks, and there were about 5 “random” colours. I had been teaching my daughter about prayer, and on the way she prayed that she would get a pink cone today. They just give you whichever one is on the top of the stack. It was pink. Every time we went she would pray on the way for the colour of her cone. And every time, it was the colour she had prayed for. (Btw… her name is Faith!) So, another day we went down to a local shop where she had seen a vending machine for little bouncy balls. There were a couple of hundred balls in the machine, and on the way she prayed for a blue one. We got there and maybe two of the balls were blue. She turned the dial, and out came… a green ball! (I honestly was shocked. Especially after the ice cream cones I was sure it was going to be blue). And the ball wasn’t even made properly. The two halves weren’t lined up with each other when they were stuck together. And I suddenly thought, if I show the owners they might let me choose another, properly round, ball. And I can pick one of the blue ones. But they didn’t. They were actually quite rude and just wouldn’t let me choose another one. They had a cash box sitting next to their register which had a lot of coins in it. I was so angry that they were ripping off my little girl. And when they wouldn’t help, I got so mad I threw the ball quite hard into the box, making quite a noise, and I walked off. I put my daughter up onto my shoulders and headed home. We had hardly gone far when I heard her little voice, “But now I don’t have any ball ☹️” Oh man. So we turned around, and talked some more about prayer on the way back. She prayed “God, please let me have any ball, I don’t care what colour it is, I don’t even care if it’s not really round”. She turned the dial, and a nice round ball came rolling out. It was blue.