Isaiah 6:5b – My eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. (NIV)

Psalm 47:6b-7a – Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth. (NIV)

In 1956, when I was eight years old, I had a little girlfriend I played with. We played dolls, school, and jump rope, but there are two things that I most remember about her. One was that we watched Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show at her house. Squealing, our little eight-year-old hearts stopped as we danced to the beautiful voice of the handsome idol.

The second memory was going to Bible School with her one humid summer night. I climbed up into the car and my friend and I giggled all the way, as little girls are prone to do, even in the dreadfully hot car. They led us to a stuffy room with other second graders who all sat on tiny coloured chairs with just the right-sized table for little kids. A pleasant lady, who patted my shoulder as she passed, handed me a piece of red construction paper and another piece of gray paper. They put the glue in the centre of the table, along with crayons, to copy what she wrote on the blackboard. These words would become the most important words that I had heard in my young life. For the first time, I learned that I could pray to God. The friendly teacher read from the Bible that Jesus' friends asked Him to teach them how to pray. I wondered why these men would ask Jesus this. Did they notice a difference in Jesus after He had talked to the God of heaven? "Teach Us to Pray" she had written on the board in perfect cursive, as the story unfolded from the worn Bible of the one who held it. "You and I, too, can talk to God," she said with such love in her voice. I glued the sheets together and cut lopsided lips to finish my masterpiece. I left that little room knowing that I could talk to God. The hot evening ended with a singing of "Jesus loves me", which also rang out as a testimony about this new friend I had found.

As soon as I could, I tried out this promise that they had given me that evening. Most of my prayers started like a letter. "Dear God," I would begin.

I guess that my faded piece of paper with "Teach Us to Pray" must by now be more than 65 years old — a genuine antique in anyone's book. The brittle, faded paper takes me back to the most important lesson that I ever learned.

It is funny in a way that my young heart was stopped by the King of Rock and Roll who sang "Love Me Tender" but my heart was blessed eternally by the King of kings Who loved me tenderly and taught me to pray.

What story can you tell about meeting the King of kings?

Prayer: Praise You, our dear God, for giving us that most wonderful gift of being able to talk to You. Amen.