ann kiemel

Thank you for continuing to pray for Ann!

Excerpt from "I'm Out To Change My World"  Ann Kiemel, 1974

The Architect

i started in long beach with 88 teenagers.
i didn't know anything about being a youth director.
i just prayed one simple prayer,

"Jesus, You called me.
i am nothing
but You are everything
and i only make one request --
that You do things
so big
so unusual
that people will be able to look on
with such a sense of awe
and say it is too wonderful--
only God could have done it."

and then i didn't know where to begin
but i told those 88 kids
if they would just learn to love each other,
Jesus would trust us with the whole world.
but love is hard work
and it took a lot of months
for the big, tough football players to learn to love
but they learned.

and in a year and a half
we had sunday school in three sessions on sunday.
and we had sunday school on tuesday afternoons
for the neighborhood guys who couldn't get in on sundays,
and three more sessions on wednesdays,
and a club on thursdays.
from sunday to sunday
in a year and a half
we had four hundred teenagers
just because 88 kids learned to love each other.

you tell me love doesn't work--
and i don't believe you.
every time i went on a trip to speak
those kids prayed for me--
twenty four hours a day
around the clock--
because they were out to change the world.
they'd say,
"ann, we can't fly with you
but we'll stay here and pray."

an architect in our church walked up to me
and he was crying
and he said, "i want to tell you something.
a couple of weeks ago i got up early--
at 4:30 a.m.--
to fly to Panama
and i saw the light on under the door of my son's room.
now, rick's a sharp kid
but we can't get him up
even at 7:30 a.m.
and here it was 4:30
and the light was on in his room.
i bounded across the hall and threw open the door
and i couldn't believe it--
there was rick kneeling beside his bed with his Bible open--
praying.

'rick, what is the matter?
it's only 4:30
are you having some special problem?'

'it's ann,' rick said.
'she's in detroit this weekend
and i pledged to pray every morning
between four and five while she's gone.
you know dad, we're out to change the world
and when you change the world
you've got mountains.'

and the architect said,
"i walked out of his room
and closed the door
and forgot my trip.
i went into my room
and fell on my knees by my bed
and buried my face in the shieets
and wept--
'oh, Jesus,
i don't love you enough.
i don't care enough."