Greetings, Dear Friends!
Susie Larson here...

And to those visiting, I say welcome!

I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way.

If you take the time to post on my blog in April, you may win a $10.00 gift card to Caribou, Target, OR Dairy Queen! Your choice. So drop me a note and say hi!

Now on to my topic...

It was about this time of year, about seven years ago, when my then, ninth grade son, was invited to a week-long intense discipleship training (known as IDT) which was scheduled to start the day after the last day of school.

The planners planned for this event to start bright and early on the first day of summer vacation. They wanted to train the students who wanted to be there; who made the commitment to be there.

One minute Jake was sure he was supposed to go, but then he'd go to school and hear his friends talk about all of their summer plans and he'd come home with a changed mind.

Back and forth he went.

My strong sense was that I was supposed to guide him from a distance and allow this decision to be his.

The day came, school was out, and vacation mode had kicked in.

My hands were immersed in dish water and dirty dishes when Jake approached me, "Mom, I was invited to sleep at my friend's house tonight. I really want to go but I kind of feel like I'm supposed to go to IDT too. I don't know what to do."

Drying my hands off I turned to him and said, "Jake, as a Christian you will notice that there are a thousand 'Christian' things you can be a part of, but you're only called to be a part of some of them. You have to decide, is this one of those things? How about if you go to your bedroom and spend an hour praying and asking God what He thinks?" Jake did just that. And I have to admit, I prayed hard too. I really wanted him to go to IDT.

The next morning we were up bright and early and I dropped him off for his first day of intense discipleship training.

What I wasn't prepared for, was the look of him when I picked him up. He slipped in the front seat, held a white square of cloth up to his face, and wept for several minutes.

I looked a little closer at the cloth and saw the words, "N-Vow."

I pulled away from the curb and drove as Jake gathered himself and began to share what just happened.