Psalm 18:34 “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”

[Lord, you prepare your children on every level for what you know will come. We see this in how you put Joseph through training in Potiphar’s house, and then through serving others in prison, making him ready for being the Prime Minister of Egypt.

In the same way you are preparing us, equipping us, strengthening us through challenges and difficulties, getting us ready for the opportunities you are planning to give us.

I think of how you had me study Latin in high school and this prepared me for learning a difficult Asian language for ministry.

I think of how you had me working for years in the tire shop, learning how to manage both people and business, and how to deal with the public, preparing me for leading the field in the Middle East.

I think of how you had me marry late, giving me time to mature and giving me a fine German wife with a vision for reaching the world for Jesus and an understanding of other cultures, making transition to the Middle East easier and our work there more effective.

To you be glory for your wisdom, for your knowing what will come, for your faithfulness in preparing us, for your unfailing presence with us, for the fact we can praise you now for things we neither understand or like.

Whatever the darkness, He gives us light.