Roy Exum
The other evening when I got home and gathered the mail, there was a very innocuous postcard among the envelopes and magazines. Truth is I almost missed it because usually such fodder is a reminder your teeth need cleaning or that a magazine subscription is about to expire.
But I saw in the corner it was from the church, more specifically, “from the Wednesday night Prayer Group at the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church.” With a neat hand, a member had written this to me, “We continue to pray for as you recover and it is our privilege to do so. Tonight we lifted you up before the Throne of Grace. You are not alone. We are with you in prayer.”
I’m telling you this card didn’t have a picture of a cross, a blooming rose, or a cuddly puppy. It was a plain as anything you ever saw but it was as powerful as any Christian moment I have ever enjoyed. And then there is this not-so-redundant fact: As I now look at the card on my desk, you can see where a couple of my tears caused the ink to run.
Way back years ago, I’m talking about from the very beginning, Mister Elmer Pettyjohn became a central part of my life and while he could neither read or was good with numbers, he was the smartest human being God ever placed on this earth. Far more than a mentor, Elmer held rank to equal my parents, my brothers and sisters, and was very much a member of our extended family at Christmas, Easter, and every other occasion.
One of his greatest “Elmer-isms” has been proven as fact to solely me thousands of times in my life, “God doesn’t always come when you call Him, but he’s always right on time.”
Pay attention: no mortal soul could have had any idea that earlier on the day I got that card from the Prayer Group, I would suffer a setback in my healing process. Oh, I was as stoic as ever, saying, ‘We’ll get through this. We have before … we will again, and let’s remember this: ‘Nothing ever happens in your life – ever – that God doesn’t use it as a purpose to make your life better.’"
Those of us who share faith call these unexplainable coincidences “God things” and once you have learned to spot them they happen far more than you think. I have no idea when the church’s card was mailed. I had no idea my knee wasn’t getting better. “Don’t worry … all that redness and the swelling is probably just a reaction...”
Honor bright: I had no way of knowing my knee would soon begin to drain the same way my elbow did 10 years ago. But God did. And I have a card on my desk to prove it. Unless you have been there, a card like that is all you need as you are “led beside still waters that restoreth one’s soul.” I also didn’t know the pain and the fatigue that goes with infections would be back. But God did.
I have three personal prayer lists and what I call the hot-gun. As I have written before, my C list borders on the absurd: that my grandchildren will do as well in school as their parents did after ol’ Pops didn’t, and I ask that the California wildfires will diminish – one is now bigger than the city of Los Angeles.
Conversely my B list is sacred. I pray fervently for friends in trouble or who are suffering right now. I am sad to say there are more names on my B list right now than ever before, but let’s twist that: I am glad to say that today my B list includes more people than I ever have.
My A list is one the most important because every person on it needs a miracle. I plead for grace, devoid of pain, and that God’s will includes a warm blanket. Still, I pray for our most helpless.
The ‘single shot?’ Years ago the late Fletcher Bright’s mom was credited as the first in this neck of the woods with single-shot prayer. Usually when most Christians pray they will include a list of petitions, but Mrs. Bright once told the boys off to fight in World War II that she was single-shooting them. She would then explain her prayer was so-named because it included only one name – yours – so as the prayer reached heaven it would have its full power, undiluted, as real as it comes.
Want to see a single-shot’s power? The next time you come across a friend who has been in a struggle, tell them you prayed for them. Chances are their gratitude will be cordial. But tell the next sufferer you ‘single-shot’ them. Once you explain what that means, that soul will lap you up like a saucer of warm milk.
All across our community, our state, and our nation, people gather for prayer meetings on Wednesday night. If I may be so bold, allow me a single shot: “Lord, You and only You, can answer the prayers that call You unceasingly and I give thanks for the so many that you answer in spectacular ways. I beg that You will open the eyes of your prayer warriors around the world in the hope they will continue to send a plain, innocuous cards to those who they lift before You and that each note will contains Your assurance, “You are not alone.”
This, in the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
royexum@aol.com