HELP!  HELP!  HELP!

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

     Welcome back. Let's think about petition.

     When I was seventeen years old, my family fell apart. I had to leave home to finish out my senior year in high school. The school nurse where I graduated kindly invited me to live with her and her family during my last semester. I shared a room with her oldest son.

     I prayed to God that I might have a car and a job after I graduated. Through church connections I managed to obtain a loan so I could buy a Volkswagen Beetle. I still remember it. I bought it from one of my classmates. It was turquoise and white.

     At the time, I believed God really sent me a car. Why not?  When I played knot hole baseball, I often prayed that the weather never turned to rain on game days. I cannot recall a single rain out during all those games I played.

     God changed the weather so I could play baseball. I had ample evidence to suggest I was God's special son. I reckoned He (and I thought God was male) really really liked me.

     I mentioned that God sent me a car. I would testify to that in church. I'd say, "I asked God for a car and a job. To prove His love to me, God gave me the car first, and weeks later God gave me a job.

     I've had so many jobs, I can't remember where I worked. If it was the grocery store, one of my earliest places of employment, it did not last long. A cashier and I were fired after a couple of weeks because, on a slow night, I showed him a new wrestling move I had learned at the university.

     The assistant manager saw us horse playing on the floor and said, "Punch out. Go home!"

     So God had to fetch me another job so I could pay for His car.    Within a few days, He managed to tempt me out to a newspaper where I had connections and the high school.

     I have serious doubts that when we petition God, we are heard and God either grants our request, does not grant our request, or makes us wait. I also doubt that God intervenes in my personal history to fetch me what is God's will to allow.

     I petition God because it is only natural to do so. Anne Lamont says the two most common prayers are, "Help!  Help!  Help!" and "Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!"

     Indeed...

     There have been rare times in my life when I did not pray. Even when my fury rose against God, I still talked to God about it.

     "You know it would be nice if you showed yourself. If that's not your style, it would be even better if Jesus stopped in to arrange an interview on CNN, or even Fox News. Actually, I'd love to see Jesus appear on Fox News."

     Marcus Borg, in his book The Heart of Christianity, writes that "...petition and intercession serve the central purpose of prayer: intimacy with God."  (p.199)

     Intimacy with God is what all prayer is about. Our God of love elevates our love as we draw closer in wisdom and prayer.

     So I will continue to pray, "Lord!  Please let the Atlanta Falcons win the SuperBowl this year or least before I die or before Halley's Comet returns in 2061."

     "Please help me not become bitter and mean because my job is mean and inspires despair."

     "Please give me the strength to exercise more and lose weight."

     "Please keep me healthy and happy so that I may be a good husband and step father for decades to come with the family I love."

     "Please let me live to see Halley's Comet return again and keep my eyesight sharp so that I may see it after the Atlanta Falcons have won the SuperBowl."

     Blessings...