| |  Here’s an incredible story about prayer from a good friend of mine, Rev. Dean Easton (Canedensis Moravian Church). Dean grew up in Iowa farm country and regularly went to a little country church. When he was 12 or 13, Dean had the dubious honor of being the kid who was sent around to collect the Sunday school attendance slips and class offerings—and this gave him an opportunity to peek into every class. At his church, Sunday school classes always began with a word of prayer.
So, one Sunday morning Dean was making his rounds. When he got to the Middle School class, he could here the teacher, Mr. Casey, leading the class in prayer. Mr. Casey was a farmer, and, apparently, his crops weren’t doing so well—because when Dean went into the classroom, Mr. Casey was praying for God to send them rain. When the prayer was over, Dean went to the next classroom, where he heard another farmer-teacher, Mr. Johansen, who was praying for dry weather. Apparently, Mr. Johansen had just cut several fields of hay and need the Lord to provide warm sunshine, so the hay could dry out before bailing.
Now, Dean was a pretty savvy kid. He had been told by many people on many occasions that God always answers our prayers, especially prayers for things we needed. Both of these men seemed to have legitimate needs. But how could God answer both men’s prayers? Casey’s farm and Johansen’s farm were adjacent to one another—separated only by a two-lane county road.
“I didn’t know who was going to get what they prayed for,” Dean told me, “but I knew it was going to be interesting!”
And what happened was interesting, to say the least. I’ve seen this phenomenon happen once in my life. When I was growing up in Florida, a very unusual summer storm passed over our house. Looking in the backyard, I could see it was raining to beat the band! And not just sprinkles—but a good driving rain! But in the front yard? Not a drop. In fact, the sun was still shining. Apparently, the same kind of storm front marched down that county road not two days after the prayers were prayed. Casey’s crops got a good, thorough soaking. Johansen’s hay stayed nice and dry. And Dean says he learned something about how God answers prayer.
It’s easy for us to cut our own prayers short. It’s easy for us to lower our expectations and only pray for those things that we think are realistic. Sometimes we do it because we don’t want to be disappointed. Sometimes we do it because we don’t want be greedy. Sometimes we do it because we don’t think that we’re worthy of God’s spectacular works.
But here’s the thing—God does work in spectacular ways! God does work in fantastically unexpected ways! And sometimes, where we can only see cut-and-dried alternatives, God sees the potential for making the incredible happen!
So, go ahead! Pray the prayers that are in your heart! Pray for things that will make your heart sing praises to God—even if they’re crazy, unrealistic, wildly unattainable dreams! You never know. God may just send a sunny day—and a downpour—both at the same time!
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| | Posted 5/3/2008 8:04 AM - 143 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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