Prayer

As I listened to my favorite radio show, "Rick and Bubba", I was touched by the story of Shelly. Actually the story reinforced how awesome prayer is.

Shelly was technically dead at the scene of a car accident. She was young and her life offered so much promise. It happened on the eve of Christmas Eve 2006. While technically dead at the scene by man's standards, God had other plans!

Mark, her dad, told a story of how Bubba had visited the hospital on Christmas day. Mark was touched that he would leave his family on Christmas day to have prayer. Bubba got on a knee and had prayer with him that his daughter might survive. He told of the power of that prayer.

Bubba expressed how cool it is that we serve a God that hears prayers with our name attached, and it goes straight to His desk and He listens!

Mark also said that after the first 48 hours he wrote down the name of anyone that helped Shelly - Doctors, Nurses, EMT's, Fireman, etc... 13 or so days after the accident she was doing well enough to visit the fireman that were first on the scene. They were touched that she had come by. They expressed their joy because most never take the time to come back so they can see what happened to those they've helped.

How often do we send a prayer to God, straight to His desk, with a name that we know, and never share with others the result of that prayer.

I have to admit that of the prayers I've been asked to pray by other people, probably less than 5% ever follow up to tell us the result. I wonder why?

BTW, Shelly is doing great!

Walking

Why don't I walk more?

The benefits are widely reported...

Walkers appear to have less incidence of...
Cancer
Heart Disease
Stroke
and Diabetes.

Walking doesn't require any prior knowledge or skill base. No specialized equipment - just a pair of good fitting shoes. You can do it on a neighborhood street so it's always convenient.

Whenever I do take the time to walk it helps reduce stress and allows me to contemplate my day.

In this fast paced world maybe walking would help us in everyday living. Help us unwind. Help us contemplate our role in this world. Help us to contemplate our existence. Help us get closer to God.

A lot of things could happen with just a simple walk.

Baggage

Our home is in the process of being painted (a very soothing yellow). In order to paint, my bookshelves had to be totally cleared! Tons of books, too many books - religious books. Once I cleared the shelves I realized how much extra baggage I had accumulated. Books I haven't used in years, kept them because I thought well..., maybe I would need them. I didn't need many of them - too much baggage. I had to do the unthinkable, throw some away, give some away (makes one a little nervous to throw away religious stuff!). After this cleansing of the shelves I actually felt great. Some clutter, some baggage was gone. It feels good.

I wonder why we cling to our old baggage, and don't clean our shelves sooner? Many people would feel so much better if they would just clear the baggage, give it away and move on.