I'll never forget two Sundays ago when precious Jasmine, one of my Sunday schoolers, looked up at me from her loving hug and said, "Ms. Ana, you want to ask me to come over to your house and I say 'yes'?" I giggled, marveling at her boldness. Too innocent to fear being rejected or misunderstood, Jasmine let me know what was about to go down, preferably right away. "Yes, but not today, baby," I promised Jas. Had they overheard, Jasmine's parents may have thought, "Honey, you can't just go imposing on people," but I found it no imposition at all; it was downright honoring.

I didn't know she dug me like THAT.

What if more of God's people were like Jasmine? What if we invaded God's space and declared, "Lord, here's what's going to happen this morning; I want you so we're going to spend covenant time together. I know you'll say 'All right, my child.' "

This holy chutzpah is what prompted Jacob to wrestle with an angel and determiningly declare, "Lord, I won't let go 'til you bless my soul."

This it-never-hurts-to-ask attitude is what allowed Abraham to bargain God down to sparing Sodom and Gomorrha on account of 50 righteous souls. It didn't stop there; Abraham kept pressing,"What about forty-five? Forty? Thirty? Twenty? And finally - ten?"

This cavalier abandon led Hezekiah to cry out in disappointment when he learned of his imminent death. So moved was God that He added 15 years to King Hezekiah's life...on top of an instant healing!

And we see it over and over again later on when the Son ministered on earth.Will you be like the woman with the issue of blood, who elbowed and parted through the crowd just so she could be healed by touching the hem of the Savior's garment? (No doubt, this bleeding woman carried an offensive smell so I always think of the scene in Slumdog Millionaire where young Jamal desperately pushes to see his favorite actor, Amitabh Bachchan, in the flesh!) Or will you be like the four faithful friends who were insane enough to risk killing a man already so sick that he is confined to a stretcher by lowering him from a roof just for Christ to lay a Healing Hand?

Boldness. Chutzpah. Abandon.

Best of all, as I ponder Jasmine, I think of how she wasn't like other Sunday School kids; she didn't ask me for a sucker (which I had and could give) nor a dollar (which I had and could give). Jas sought one-on-one time with me AND at my house--a first.

Instead of tangibles, how about we plea with God for supernatural touch upon your soul, like Jacob? Or even for your loved ones' souls, like Abraham? Or for life more abundantly in order to serve Him, like Hezekiah? Or for healing and deliverance, like the bleeding woman and the infirmed man's four faithful pals?

Forget your manners. Forget the material. I challenge you to taste and see that the Lord is good, y'all!

Ana Valeska is a not-so-naughty librarian, college instructor, book editor and--yeah,baby--NEWD columnist. Her forthcoming work, Tu Eres (You Are), is a devotional based on modern-day worship psalms. Ana Valeska longs to help redeem urban, young adult culture for the Lord Jesus. Her daughter, Selena, and cat, Puffles, have her wrapped around their little fingers.