30 Days of Thanksgiving, Day 32: Answered Prayer

Yesterday I wrote about Prayer (click on the word to read yesterday’s entry). Today I want to expand and isolate the topic and give thanks for the prayers that have been answered already.

My brother, a pastor and a computer software developer (click here to go to his website) some years ago developed a program for accountability in prayer called Prayer Watchman. He used it to track prayer requests, aid him in remembering to pray for the different requests for which he had been asked to pray, and to track the prayers that had been answered. He differentiated answered prayer into two distinct categories: prayers that have been answered in the way that I had hoped and prayers that have been answered, though not in the way that I had hoped.

Just identifying answered prayers in that way and realizing that God may answer my prayers, but not in the way that I had hoped, helped me to open my eyes and realize just how often God had been answering my prayers! God really does answer our prayers! And when He does, I want to remember always to say “thank You, God, for Your response.” Even when He chooses to answer me with an answer that I am hoping NOT to hear. So today, Heavenly Father, I am remembering to say “thank You” for Your answers to my prayers.

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Day…31! Prayer

I still have many things to give thanks for, so I’m extending the original 30 days of November into December.

Today, I give thanks to God for the gift and privilege of prayer. That God leaves the line open on His end is amazing to me! The Bible is full to overflowing with references about prayer and invitations to pray. Eyes open, eyes closed. Out loud or just in thought. Standing, sitting, kneeling, lying down. In church. In the car. At home. Sitting at a computer, typing on a keyboard. In the middle of the night or the middle of the day. Pray.

If I was just a little more ambitious and creative, I might try to compose a poem--a la Dr. Suess and Green Eggs and Ham--about prayer. Maybe someone who reads this might do just that. If so, I hope I get to read it.

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for giving us a communication device that is wireless, with an ever-renewable Power Source, having a signal that does not drop calls nor ever goes out of range. In fact, its range is unlimited! The technology is not new—it is ancient—but nothing has been invented that even comes close. It does not depend on electricity or batteries, towers or satellites. It works even under water!The only time the mechanism does not work is when we block the signal ourselves because of our sin (Psalm 66:18).

"Over." (see "Not 'Amen' But 'Over'" )

LET US PRAY!

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Day 21: My "Job"

Today, I am thankful for my "job." I put the word in quotes because I don't think of my work as a job in the normal or traditional sense. As a pastor, I think of my work as a "calling" or an "assignment" from God, who is my "Boss." I don't mean to reduce God to the mundane by saying this. Everyone would not agree with how I view my work as pastor, but in my mind, I signed up for God's team back when I was a teenager and I made a decision to "dedicate my life to God." Back then I told Him that I would do whatever He assigned to me (though inwardly I was putting certain conditions on that), little imagining that He would accept my offer.

Anyway, God has given me a number of assignments along the way, and I've enjoyed them all in varying degrees. My current assignment, though, is my favorite so far. I am really enjoying the work God has given me to do among the First Family at First Baptist Church in Newburgh, and I am very thankful to God that He has given me this particular assignment.

Not "Amen" But "Over"

I recently began replacing the word "Amen" at the end of my prayer with the word "Over." It's not a frivolous affectation, it is intentional, and here is the intention.

"Amen" means "let it be so", and that's a great way to agree with, or finish, a prayer. There's nothing wrong with that, so don't worry, my Amen-saying reader. I'm not scoffing at you or telling you that you're "doing it wrong." I've just begun to think about my communication with Our Heavenly Father in a slightly different way.

It comes from my military training, and particularly, radio communication. In the Army there is a strictly-observed chain of command. It's necessary and important, because in a life-and-death situation, there must be no hesitation. In remote communication by radio, this chain of command is still present.

In the "etiquette" of radio communication, the "subordinate" communicates with the "superior", relays his/her message, and then says "Over." This indicates that the sender is finished speaking, AND IS WAITING FOR A REPLY, AND POSSIBLY INSTRUCTIONS OR ORDERS, from the superior on the other end of the radio communication. The subordinate, or junior, does not say "Over and Out" or "Out", because "Out" means that the conversation has ended and the speaker does not intend to listen for any further response. It is the privilege and prerogative of the superior, or senior, to decide whether the conversation has ended.

So, when I pray, I am in the position of the subordinate, the junior, the supplicant. When I say "Amen" I signal that my prayer is concluded, and the conversation has ended. However, I am persuaded that prayer is to be "without ceasing", so "Amen" seems to me somehow out of place. I have begun thinking of my prayer as an ongoing conversation, punctuated by my word "Over" to indicate that my transmission is ended for now, but I remain "on the line" waiting for a response from my "Higher Headquarters". That response may contain an answer to my request, or it may contain "orders" or instructions, or clarification of previous orders. In any event, I want to make sure that at all times I am listening for the Commander's message.

Over.

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Day 13: Colleagues in Ministry

Today I am thankful to God (when I say "I am thankful", I mean "I am thanking God" and not just chance, luck, the Great Spirit, Fate, or any other non-specific thing or being) for those who labor with me, whether up close or from a distance, in pastoral ministry in churches here in the Mid-Hudson Valley, around New York State, in the Tri-State area (NY-NJ-PA), and elsewhere.

Over the years I have made a number of friends who are now, or have been, pastors. A few of them have already gone on ahead into Glory, and are among the "cloud of witnesses" mentioned in Hebrews 12:1. Most, though, are still accessible to me, whether by e-mail, Facebook, phone call, or even face-to-face visit. We collaborate in sharing ideas, we rely upon one another when trying out new ideas, we commiserate with one another over common disappointments and challenges in ministry, we pray for and with one another, we laugh, we cry, and encourage one another.

As I write, and as I was composing today's entry in my head during my shower this morning (no singing for me today!) names and faces cycled through my thoughts. Even now they continue like a carousel slide projector (the precursor to a PowerPoint Presentation, for those who may need me to draw you a diagram...) but I hesitate to start listing names lest I unintentionally snub a dear friend by omitting his or her name.

Later today, at our Annual Mid-Hudson/Union Association of American Baptist Churches of New York State (just our name is a run-on sentence!), I will see some of the very colleagues I am writing about this morning. I am always glad to see them, and I always feel lifted up when I have talked with one or with several of them, or have read an e-mail, blog entry or Facebook post from them. I thank God for my co-laborers in ministry, my fellow pastors.

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you today for the men and women that You have called, prepared, appointed, anointed, empowered, and all the other things that You have done and always do to put Your servant in Your pulpit in Your church today. Bless each one especially today, and please let each one know that they are appreciated. Thank You, Father, for the gift of pastors, and especially those who are known to me. In Jesus' Name I pray this. Over...

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Day 12

Today I am thankful for my grandparents: Carlton and Iva (Guernsey) Shaver on my mother's side of the family, and Milton Willard and Lucille (Davies) Ashley on my father's side of the family.

My "Grampy", Carlton Shaver, was a farmer and a postal carrier, but more than that, he was a Giant among men in his community. He was beloved by all in the area. I loved to sit near him as a little boy (on his lap if I was quick enough) and tell stories about fishing, about hunting, about snowstorms, about delivering Christmas packages after hours on Christmas Eve, or just about anything else. He was quick with his laugh, and when he laughed, the earth shook in laughter around him. I loved my Grampy, and to this day I carry his name proudly, for my parents gave me his name, Carlton, as my middle name.

Grandma and Grandpa Ashley were made of different "stuff." Grandpa A. was retired from IBM already when I became aware of what he did, or used to do, for a living. He had many small tools, probably because he worked on fine machinery. He was a meticulously neat and organized person. I remember going through his things after he died, and coming across a cigar box carefully labeled: "pieces of string too short to keep." Sure enough, the cigar box was full of short pieces of string, that evidently were NOT, in fact, TOO short to keep.

It is Grandma Ashley, though, that was in my mind the more remarkable of the Ashley grandparents. She was stern and sharp-tongued, but her Welsh heart was full of love for me and the rest of her 13 grandchildren. She was a praying woman, and I know that she prayed for me every day (probably at the precise same time each day!) even as I finished college and entered the ministry.

Though all four of my grandparents are with the Lord now and inaccessible to me, I still think of them often. Something will remind me of one of Grampy Shaver's stories, or a life lesson he taught me. Something else will trigger a memory of Grandma Ashley and her labors in prayer. Whatever it is that brings back to my mind thoughts of my wonderful grandparents, I always am willing to linger a moment on the memory, and in my heart, I smile and give thanks.