Snow Day

Yesterday was a snow day for me. Jill and the boys were out of town so I had dog duty. I went to the Norwalk girls basketball game Saturday night and by the time the game was over the snow was already falling pretty heavily. I had pretty much made up my mind to stay home Sunday morning instead of driving 20 minutes to church and 20 minutes back to take care of the dog. But my mind was 100% made up when I looked out the window Sunday morning and saw the driveway covered with about 5 inches of snow...and me not knowing how to run the snowblower. I let the dog out and fed him and then we proceeded to the couch. I knew I had to get out by 3:30 for youth group so I would have to figure out the snowblower eventually but I didn't think it would be that difficult...so I waited. I decided to watch TV and putter around until 1:00pm. Then I would go clean off the driveway. I watched an hour of "While You Were Out" and then got sucked into a movie on the Lifetime channel. As the movie was finishing up I heard a noise outside. I looked at the clock (12:55pm) and got up to look out the window. What a sight! There was a mystery man and his son snowblowing the driveway and clearing off the porch! I couldn't believe it! Their timing couldn't have been better!! I silently thanked God for the people who are watching out for my brother's family while he's in the Persian Gulf. Then I got some pretzels and a Mt. Dew and settled back on the couch to watch "Law and Order" until time for a shower.

Youth group was good. Pastor Geoff has been teaching about prayer using Jesus' prayer in John 17. He has stressed that prayer is the centerpiece of worship and Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of prayer. And he has been challenging us to cultivate lives of prayer. Not to simply make prayer part of our day but to center our lives around Jesus Christ so that prayer becomes our lifestyle. I'm reminded of a time in my life when prayer was my lifestyle. It was the summer of 1994 and I was on my first tour with The Continental Singers. Whenever someone came to me with a problem or concern my first reaction was to pray with them. From a situation at home, to a problem with a fellow tour member, to a lost pencil or Bible. The first thing I would say is, "Did you pray about it?" And then we would pray about it. One of my friends on that tour, Christa, dubbed me her Prayer Warrior. That was just who I was. Sometimes I wonder where that person has gone. And how do I get that lifestyle back?

Pastor Geoff gave us a statistic that says (if I remember correctly) 95% of American's say they pray but only 80% say they believe in God. So who, or what, are those 15% praying to? I love the verse in Deuteronomy 4:7 that says, "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?"

So, what about you? Is prayer something you do? Or does it saturate your life?