Every now and then, the Lord decides I need an insomniac's prayer session- ever have those?
It goes something like this...
I am wiped out tired. Had a wonderful dinner with my wife at Macaroni grill. We walked around the mall. My oldest daughter is on a date. My youngest daughter is spending the night away. My middle daughter and a friend are walking around the mall also- but it is just Lisa and me. And it is fun.
Get home, lay in bed 5,4,3,2.... out like a light and I can sleep in in the morn! YEA!
Then at 2:30- the Lord says 'get up'- and I say "yes, sir"
And then we spend 2 hours going over all the prayers- all the deep things. I have friends who are dealing with death, economic hardships, diagnosis of cancer, disease, marriage hardships, job stress, etc....
Then family issues: broken bones and stresses of life. Bills and chores. My oldest is getting ready to be a senior.
Then I jump around in my brain- Sunday school lesson this week- school stuff- world issues- church stuff-memories- ideas, plans, schemes. What sounds so good at 3AM will seem so silly in the morn.
Then we go a little bit deeper. What am I just angry about right now? What am I afraid of? What am I ashamed of? Where am I scared to let God have control? Where am I fighting Him?
And then then final little poke. He says to me in my mind.
Why have you shrunk back from the fight? Why do you back down? Just because it looks like Satan has won a few skirmishes? Yeah, things are tough for a lot of people, but why the loser's lean? Do you doubt that I AM is in control?
So I closed my eyes last night, a little weary from life- a little battle weary in the fray. He woke me up to pray and I became a little overwhelmed in the dark. And now I am here with fire in my eyes to keep swinging the SWORD.
Part of this was helped by my friend and co-laborer Drew Maddux as he shared a you tube video today. I pasted the text below. It is based on a VERSUS commercial, but this one is about Tim Tebow.
THE THEORY OF COMPETITION
here is the thing that makes life so interesting
the theory of evolution claims only the strong shall survive
maybe so, maybe so
but the theory of competition says
just because they are the strong doesn't mean they can't get their butt's kicked
that's right
see what every long shot come from behind underdog will tell you is this
the other guy may in fact be the favorite
the odds may be stacked against you, fair enough
but what the odds don't know is this isn't a math test
this is a completely different kind of test
one where passion has a funny way of trumping logic
so before you step up to the starting line
before the whistle blows and the clock starts ticking
just remember out here
the results don't always add up
no matter what the stats may say
and the experts may think
and the commentators may have predicted
when the race is on all bets are off
don't be surprised if somebody decides to flip the script take a pass on yelling uncle
and then suddenly, as the old saying goes we got ourselves a game
So it is now 4:50 AM and all I can think is...... we got ourselves a game........
I am going to be really tired later on today.
No comments:
Post a Comment