As we whizzed down the road toward coastal Georgia, I turned around in
my seat to look behind me.
“What are you doing?”Jerry asked from the driver’s seat.
“What are you doing?”Jerry asked from the driver’s seat.
“Reading a wayside pulpit.”
The adage on it hit me hard.
“Worry less. Pray more,” some pastor or church member had posted in
front of their little building. It appeared not more than a few dozen might fit
in their sanctuary, but I wondered the countless ones, like me they touched who
were traveling the busy state highway in front of their building.
Such a simple truth.
Yet, how often what I do is the opposite―worry more, pray less.
I should probably have worry less, pray more tattooed on my forehead. Sadly,
they’d probably offer me a senior discount. Irritating.
We might even shorten the thought to pray more or maybe
one word―pray.
Pray, I tell myself when I drag out my list of concerns intending to
ruminate over them. Again.
Pray, when I worry about Jerry’s situation and whether he’s doing what
he should to deal with his cardiac issues (If you missed the story from last week, HERE).
Pray, when something touches one of my children or grandchildren and my
anxiety starts to rise.
Pray, when I wonder if I can get the right marketing off the ground for
my new books. Like most writers, marketing is not in my wheelhouse, but so
expected by publishers.
Pray, when the thoughts of a thousand tomorrows invade my brain, and how
will things ever work out, anyway?
The Apostle Paul said it best in I Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray all the
time.” (The Message).
Because here’s the thing―if we’re praying all the time, there’s
no time for worry. That’s the benchmark.
In an interview with Jerry Jenkins, Billy Graham told Jenkins the Bible
instructs us to pray without ceasing and that’s what he did.
“I was stunned,” Jenkins wrote. “You pray without ceasing?”
“I do,” Graham said, “and I have every waking moment since I received
Christ at age 16. I’m praying right now as I’m talking to you that everything I
say will glorify Christ.”
So, if you were wondering what we should aim for, that’s it. If you’re
like me, you’re a good ways off. We might even need a telescope to see the
target. No problem. God meets us right where we are in this moment.
And in this moment, what we do is . . . Worry less. Pray more.