This was our second such trip. An opportunity to take some young folk away, develop our relationship with them, give their parents a break, give them a break from their environment and enjoy the company of a welcoming Christian family. At least this time we were all nicely strapped in our car rather than the prospect of a long train journey.

We were leaving about an hour later than planned and we had to stop and get petrol. Our petrol cap had refused to open with my key but with my husbands it had been no problem. But of course when we reached the petrol station a mile down the road it refused to budge. I was just coming to terms with the panic and disappointment on the boys’ face when I thought I should pray about it silently, so I was praying away ("Lord please open the petrol cap") and then I thought maybe I should get us all to pray.

Now picture the scene, three boys who are completely unchurched, giggle during any prayer also finish with Awoman (get it!) and just have never seen it as being remotely relevant in their lives. So I was in this dilemma do I suggest we pray out loud and risk losing credibility if it doesn’t open? Or just continue to pray silently? Eventually I just blurted out "I think we should pray about this", so apart from wide eyes and funny looks there was no verbal response so I got us all to close our eyes and I offered up our plea to God. Of course the cap opened with ease.

Each boy had a different reaction: ‘that’s it I’m becoming a Christian’ (we had a big chat with him about the costs and are awaiting further chats with him); one said ‘I’m going to pray for £1m pounds now (I was able to explain why I believe God answers ‘petrol cap’-type prayers and wouldn’t answer such a ‘give me a million pounds’ now type prayer, so had a great chat about Gods character, our motivations for prayer etc.) and other boy said ‘you set that up!’. that made me laugh but sad too that there’s scepticism at a young age. However we have no doubt that it was something that has made a HUGE impact on them because it was the first thing they were telling people when we eventually reached our destination.

So I guess the outcome of all this is that we could say to our young folk "God has done amazing things in my life" etc, etc but at least this was an opportunity for them to see how much God valued them and how he really does answer prayer, cares about us personally and intimately.

QUESTIONS

• What do you think about taking a small group of young people to stay with families? Is it a good opportunity or do you run the risk of exposing them to stark differences in lifestyle? Or even too much of an opportunity to be spoiled?

• Is it realistic to be so blatant about asking for Gods help in such ‘everyday’ settings? Do you fear risking ‘credibility’ if it seems like God has not answered the prayer?

• How would you have replied to each young person’s response?

Diane Hall
(FYT Scottish Committee member)

We had been on the road for hours, and were looking for a motel to spend the night in. After we passed four displaying 'No Vacancies' signs, my seven-year-old asked solemnly, "Mum, are we vacancies?"