Walk with Me a While and Hear My Heart

Who can you talk to when your Christian walk is a crawl?

I am sure glad for that saying right now: "The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints." I don't feel much like a saint these days.

But I just have a sneaky suspicion that a huge percentage of us sickly saints don't really want to talk about our current maladies. Oh, we are all too quick to ask for prayer for our physical illnesses. For many, it gets pretty sticky to ask for prayer or guidance for our emotional or relational troubles. But when it comes to a broken spiritual bone or strained prayer muscle, that is almost never brought up in the small group or Sunday School class for direction and prayer.

So I'm going to break that tradition. I'm going public. My prayer life is dry bones. I'm so busy with work, family, play, and yes, I admit it, TV, that I can't even get into the right posture and place for prayer.

I just wrote a book on all this. It gives all the good reasons for being a great disciple. And at the top of the list is that it is going to make my life better. I get that. It is also pleasing to God. Check that.

Well.  I do read my Bible once a week. You see, I lead a weekly Bible study, so I study each week in preparation. But, check it out. The other day, the cable went down, and somehow that also took my phone connection to the internet. I looked at the 4 walls for a while hoping to be reconnected to the rest of civilization. I realized I no longer have a radio except in my car. No newspaper. No magazines. I considered just picking up the Bible and reading. My excuse for not doing so. I've read every word in the Book at least 8 times, and some 5 times that. Dry bones.

I'm in church, go to men's ministry meetings, belong to another small group, and rarely miss any of those. I listen to sermons or other Christian radio programs any time I'm in the car. And, I'm always blessed by what I hear. Sounds all great.

I'm not off doing something horrible. Just the normal sins. Little white lies and exaggerations, a bit of gossip hear and there, and failure to think about my relationship with God or pray specifically as I process decisions.

Probably I'm disappointed with God. Except, I already worked THAT out! I read in a fantastic book by Tim Keller called "King's Cross," that getting all upset because my expectations of how God is going to act didn't pan out is pure pride. And I believe it in my head, and it is sort of clear in my heart. And I remind myself daily that regardless of any missing pieces in how I think God should be handling my life, I have an AMAZING life. Really!! Today, Feb 14, it was 84 in my back yard, the jasmines are blooming, and I have great health and a fine business to support me and my family.

So, if you want to pray for a stranger, I'm asking. I need to get back to being excited about prayer and Bible study. I need to be willing to do what is necessary to get still and take the time to lay my head on Christ's bosom. Who else needs that kind of prayer. Share in the comments. I would love to walk a while with you.