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It Takes All Kinds
Yesterday was an FIA day at CCC (Faith In Action). I love these days. My kids and family absolutely look forward to our FIA days … perhaps needing a break from my preaching!
When it was all said and done, I was home by around 2:30 in the afternoon. That’s when I did a little couch reflection. I mused to myself: The serving and fellowship was awesome. We really did get a lot done, but did we pray? FIA was church, but did we pray?
Rob said a prayer to get us all kick started. We said prayer before lunch. I stopped and prayed with a man whose wife is having some medical tests. My heart explored the hallways of Campbell High School as my wife and I went from window to window with our little spray bottles and rags. My soul was expressing gratitude as I saw so many new CCC people jumping in and serving. Something inside was stirring as I considered how blessed many teachers and students would be come Monday morning.
I thought to myself, "We certainly DID pray… it just was different."
It takes all kinds of prayers, doesn’t it? Growing up, I believed holy and credible prayers could only happen on a Wednesday night, inside the sanctuary, led by an elder, with everyone’s eyes closed, hands folded, and fidgety kids un-fidged. THOSE were the only real prayers that really counted. Can you relate? Now, however, I believe it takes all kinds.
To be diligent in prayer it takes all kinds. It takes all kinds of people, and all kinds of prayers happening in all kinds of ways. To stay alert in prayer, it takes all kinds. To pray with eyes wide open and hearts full of gratitude, my little box of prayer needs to get considerably bigger. It takes all kinds.
This is exactly why I’m so glad we have begun our 365 prayer room. It’s in the Loft at the church. You can go up there anytime you’d like and pray. There are several prayer stations that help you creatively pray… and diligently pray. The many ways to explore prayer and God will keep you alert with your eyes wide open. There will be places in our 365 prayer room for requests, but also places for worship and gratitude. You’ll pray for an hour like it was your favorite song on the radio… and then you’ll want to hear it again! It takes all kinds. Find your kind!
And BTW… staff and elders and others are being inspired by a great book called "Red Moon Rising." It’s written by Pete Greig, and it’s all about a global prayer movement that involves 24/7 prayer rooms just like ours. It’s a great read.
Praying is such a sweet time, but it felt even more quiet this past weekend. To be at the top of such a large gym with a small paint brush and white paint brougt about a peace to me. Praying for the children who could walk up these stairs and walking a quiet hallway that so many things happen in during the week. It reminded me of the importance of being quiet and doing small things with great love. Watching teenagers at D Now learn to trust and worship a mighty God when the world feels so crazy to them and us so often. Seeing the chldren playing while their parents served brought a smile to my heart. He was there watching his children hearing our prayers and I hope that for that quiet moment we brought a smile to his heart.
We (Beverly, Kitty, and I) looked like protesters as we marched around Campbell High School on Sunday carrying “365 Prayer” signs. Beverly really wanted to be painting the gym, I wanted to be cleaning windows (either meant being inside and warmer), but Kitty (the spiritual one) kept us aware of the need to just pray although she was not happy about totin’ a sign. However, the signs caught the attention of Campbell students and our FIA workers. We had opportunities to stop, share and pray with them. We were so-o-o blessed by this. Thank you, Jesus.
You are soooo right. When we regaerd prayer as a folded hands bowed head activity we starve the other senses… senses God created! Viewing our physical labor as a prayer takes all the drudgery out of it. Frankly, I’d rather stick a sharp object in my eye than paint curbs and clean brushes. But praying – that’s a whole nuther thing.
And thanks Nancy, Beverly and Kitty for praying with me. That WAS a bowed head folded hands prayer and God heard that kind too.
Didn’t yet know about the “365″ program, and the designated space in the loft back on Sunday (a week ago), but I availed myself of it for those very reasons anyway–and it was a very special time! (I did wonder a bit about the prayer stations, however.) What a necessary move!! And insofar as the “365″ presence at Campbell High, I heard that the Nancy,Kitty and Beverly were an unexpected but very welcome blessing to many!!
Funny. What Nancy didn’t say, (thank you, Nancy) was that I really hadn’t particularly wanted to go to FIA at all! I drive a long way on Sundays! But she signed me up for the prayer team! What can I say? I was there. And what a blessing! I’ve been going to Cumberland for 8 years or so, and really have been a back row kind of member. Oops… not even a member! But God has been putting in me a desire to be a more active part of the church, and more importantly, a builder of His kingdom. He’s showing me the authority He’s given His own to pull down strongholds, to defeat the enemy, and to usher in new warriors for the kingdom. So what a privilege to do that very thing for the school and, as well….. for my new friends at Cumberland. Anyway, I’m so glad God (and Nancy) signed me up!
As good as it was, and as much as I received from it, the church I grew up in didn’t help teach me how to pray. My own parents had much more an impact there. At church I remember the sing-song cadence and the same repetitious phrases used in the public prayers – I actually memorized them. It was a young minister at the Alpharetta Church of Christ years ago, David Grubbs, now at Calvary Chapel, who really showed me how to talk with my Father as his child. I miss it when I don’t.
The 365 prayer room in the Loft is a great sanctuary that encourages those conversations and leads my thoughts in different ways. It’s such a great place. Thanks for making it permanent.
Prayer takes on different looks and that is ok. What a great reminder. When I get after my kids for not folding their hands and closing their eyes during our meal-time prayers, I need to remember this.