Monday, 17 November 2008

Prayer Yields Calm, Like a Mighty Wave

Sometimes, I fear that times of trouble are the only times we remember to run to God. We often forget to praise God just for no reason, to be thankful, or to come together as one body just because, well... let's be honest for a second.

When things are going well, we're comfortable. We like that. It's normal. Why should we interrupt ourselves if things go the way we would expect them to? We're God's children. When life goes the way a small child expects it to, he tends to go about his business, spending the day playing or doing whatever things sound fun to him. If the parents factor into that plan, all the better for them, but most normal children just want to do what THEY want. Oftentimes, they tend to only go running to Mom and Dad when something's wrong or they WANT something. Not always, but typically. As children of God, I guess we don't act a lot different. Not to say that we shouldn't at least be mindful of our behavior and TRY and be different. Being mindful of God, acknowledging, praising, and thanking Him even in the good times is something we should do. But when that doesn't happen, it shouldn't surprise us, either.

That said, my church ran into a scenario where we needed God in a not so good time. Crisis can still spur the congregation into rapid action in an instant. And we ran to God because, well, that's all we knew to do in that moment. All activity ceased. Lifted Voice had just finished practicing for Middle School Youth Group. Middle School Youth Group itself was in the midst of its lesson. And there was the evening service as well. A close family friend from church was dealing with a medical crisis that, when we got the info from his wife, we weren't exactly sure WHAT it even was. It sounded like one of those medical stumpers that Dr. House takes on. Needless to say, we were frightened.

"Guys, we have to pray about this. Now!" I was pleased beyond belief to hear this from one of my high schoolers. They wanted to pray for him. So we gathered in and some of my high school crew started praying for this fellow church member right away. Meanwhile, the evening service ground to a halt and they, too, started praying for him. And Bob, downstairs with the middle school kids, was praying for him.

My friend made it through this ordeal just fine. What exactly happened to him we might never know. But in the middle of this medical scare, which baffled the medical personnel at the hospital at the time, his family felt a certain "wave" of peace while they were there. I can't help but think that it's a response to the massive outpouring of prayer coming from the church almost all at once, from the congregation gathered in the sanctuary, the middle school youth downstairs, and the small gathering of high schoolers by the church office.