Like most people, I have a routine that starts when my feet hit the floor and I prepare for the day that is ahead. A bleary-eyed trip to the coffeemaker, where the "mountain-grown" aroma fills the room. My favorite cup is filled and I flip on the news channel to see what has taken place the night before around the world. With the first few sips of the coffee, my eyes focus on the screen to see a world filled with misery. We all know the world is in a mess, but when I go to the local channel, I find it is no different closer to where I just slept. We need to pray for all those people!
My favorite local newscaster tells of another shooting overnight in Nashville, and on some mornings, more than one. A local convenience market is robbed at gunpoint, a homeless person is stabbed...traffic is at a standstill in part of the city (usually more than one part) because of a tragic accident that takes the life of an innocent child due to a drunk driver. Or, a pedestrian is hit and killed while crossing a busy intersection. A child is missing, and amber alert issued, all viewers are asked to be on the lookout. We need to pray for all those people!
Twenty minutes of the politicians calling one another names, questioning their opponents credentials, or policies, or honesty ad nauseum. This morning, the news continues of the sudden death of a Supreme Court judge which now creates a vacancy on the already divided court. Weighty matters in the balance that will affect an entire nation and its future. So many decisions in recent years have been decided by just one vote. How will the next justice vote? Which way will the pendulum swing? We need to pray for our nation!
Around the world more war, more bombings, more terrorist threats. A rogue nation rebuild, effectively creating a tidal wave of panic, destruction, death and suffering that would take generations to recover...if we could recover. We need to pray for our nation!
A rogue nation launches a ballistic missile that could bring a nuclear payload to our land, or that of our allies. If it is exploded in the atmosphere at 10,000 feet, the destruction will be multiplied and far worse, an electrics-magnetic pulse (EMP) which would effective destroy the electrical grid, communication networks and financial networks that would take years to recover...if ever. Imagine being thrown back a 300 years.
We are told of threats to the water systems, food production systems from terrorist organizations. With the breakdown of security at our national borders and the "insiders" warnings that drug cartels are joining with terrorists to help infiltrate our nation with nuclear, chemical or biological agents that could lead to the deaths of millions. FLASH! Video footage of Ayatollahs lead a crowd of thousands in the chant, "death to America." We need to pray!
Christians are being beheaded, raped, abused imprisoned. We need to pray for those people.
So much more news to hear, so many more things to do today, so I need to get up and get moving, thinking, "man, there sure is a lot of stuff to pray about today."
Phone rings, text message dings, email to go through, social media to check out. More news coming in, a marriage fails, a child dies prematurely, a beloved saint is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, while others live barely from one social security check to the next. A husband just learns his wife is cheating on him with an old boyfriend she made contact with on Facebook. There will be no thought about the children, other than who will they live with...how often will visitation be? A church member just lost his job...how will he feed his family, how will he pay the bills, his self-image now destroyed. Somebody needs to pray for these people.
Hospitals to visit, funeral home visitation tonight, counseling someone tomorrow. Church needs a pastor, answer letter that came in today from someone complaining about THEIR pastor. Lord have mercy, when do we have time to pray? SOMEBODY NEEDS TO PRAY FOR THESE PEOPLE.
Then, as I sit to read my bible and spend time in prayer, I realize there is someone else that I didn't think about...it was that man I saw in the mirror when the day started...you know, the man that looks like my father...Oh, that's me!
All of the needs that have been shared here came to mind in a one-hour period of time, as I finished off a second cup of coffee. I kept thinking, somebody sure does need to pray for these people...and it was not an unrealistic thought, someone does need to pray for them...it should start with the man in the mirror.
Everyone in my life see me day in and day out, but nobody sees that man in the mirror like I do. I see his strengths, his weaknesses, his joy, his sorrow. I see him when he has just spent the night tossing and turning, sleep fleeing from him because of so much need and what seems like so little supply. Its not the same man I saw in the mirror 40-plus-years-ago. It is a man who has known sorrow, pain and doubt. A man who has seen good times, and hard times. A man who knows what it is like to have good friends, but at times has not been a very good friend. A man who knows what it is like to trust someone, only to have his heart broken when trust becomes betrayal.
Yes, that man in the mirror needs prayer, but it is so unfair to ask someone else to do what he won't do himself. He must pray for HIMSELF. He must pray for forgiveness, for patience, for gentleness, for understanding and for spiritual eyes to see the need and be broken-hearted for those who suffer. He must have spiritual ears to listen for the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit so that others needs might be met.
That man needs prayer, but he needs to practice the discipline and model it for others too. Today, I pray for you. Someone needs to pray for you...I will be that someone who is praying for you.
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