Prayer Life

Many of my life is made up of realities that I can do nothing about, at least not on my own. That leads me to prayer. And since Jesus prayed for disciples, and he prayed for power and he prayed for protection, it makes sense to me to pray also. Many of my prayers are about the smaller things of life, but I've been thinking lately about some things that affect everyone. So...here's a short list of big prayers.

1. "Of the making of books there is no end." 1000s of books will be written this year, and people still read them, or at least read summaries. I want to pray that this year some really good books that will guide and improve and inspire and lift up people to higher thoughts and dreams and behavior. God, please lead some people to give us a few great books.

2. this is the age of inventions. 100s of incredible inventions have occurred in my short 64 years. And some are world-changing, like the cell phone. It has dramatically changed the lives of missionaries and teenagers, businesspeople and drivers. Here's my prayer: "Lord, help the church to learn to use the cell phone to bless the world."

3. For long ages, humans have looked up to the sun and moon and stars and dreamed and desired and even decided. Now space exploration has begun, and the telescopes look a long ways, and there's a little black hole in the Milky Way Galaxy with more mass than the sun. In an ever-expanding universe, and new explanations of our place in it, may space exploration lead to deeper faith.

4. Studies in the ancient world have shown how very diverse religion was when Jesus came into the world. And the church was a place of diversity from the beginning. It is even more apparent and more emphasized in our own age. Here's the prayer: that diversity in religion will cause a desire for God to grow and lead to a great search for truth.

May your prayers and your thoughts encompass the great and the small.