My thoughts on Prayer

Congrats Joanna- you got me to blog for the first time in a few weeks. She blogged about the Colts. I do not intend to reveal my loyalties about the game, though I may after the game is finished. What I intend to do is respond to her question about praying for the outcome of the game. I knew it would get too long if I just left a comment, so I am devoting a whole blog to it. Plus, I have been wanted to write about this topic and now I have motivation.

To preface, these are just my thoughts about prayer as I have experienced in my life. They have not been checked against scripture for their validity. But as I see it, there are 3 different types of communication we can have with God. First, we can talk to Him. This is simply conversing with Him as you would a friend: sharing the events of the day, your emotions and reactions to those events. This also includes statements about your desires, dislikes, and other emotions. These treat God as a friend who cares and is listening to anything you care to say.

Secondly is what I'll call a request. This is where the conversation shifts from being solely a friendship and introduces the idea that God is the Creator and Giver who cares for you and can act in your life. Here you ask things of God that you would like, with the knowledge that He is able to meet your request.

Lastly we have what I'll officially call prayer. While I have not looked up the scriptures, I believe this is supported as a conversation in which you trust fully in God's power and know that He will give you what you ask. Note the difference between what I call prayer and a request. A request acknowledges that God can do what you ask and a prayer acknowledges that God will do what you have asked.

But how is prayer even possible; do we ever know for certain that God will do as we ask? While I don't want to open up this new topic, I will say that I have been led by God to pray certain things which I fully believe He will grant, if I am willing to pray for them as He leads. A prayer is, therefore, not selfish. You know that God will grant the prayer when it is for His glory, in line with His plan, presented humbly. So a prayer is always answered in the way we asked? If it meets the requirements I listed above, yes.

I have often found that prayers require surrendering my own desires for what I know is God's desire. Prayers are hard to say, since they may not be what you want to ask of God. Requests are the desires you have and, knowing God has the power, you ask of Him. This DOES NOT make requests any less important, though I believe prayers are the mark of a mature Christian.

My conversations tend to have all three of these elements: I start by talking about my life in general and God tends to reveal to me what His will is. I then pray for those things, with a humble heart. But I always add my requests. He loves me for who I am, and while He is making me into His image, He knows I still have my own desires. I share those with Him; I ask Him for those things that I want. But I always end something like this: "God, this (my prayer) is what I want and I know You will do. I want it because You want it. But these things (my requests), Lord, are the things that I want. Grant them if You wish, but thank you for granting my prayers."

Wow, this is a long road to get to the answer (do you even remember the question?). I think we can ask God to bring about a certain outcome for the game, as long as we realize this is only a request: a question posed to God not because He will do it, but because He can. Oh, and He does care about these types of things (listen to Dr. Spiegel's idea on this).

Soccer in America

This is the biggest event in American sports for many years. Bigger than AI's trade to the Nuggets (even though I'm a Nuggets fan). Bigger than King James's success in the NBA. Bigger than Barry Bonds (and all those other guys) using steroids. Bigger than the Trojan's championships. Yes, ladies (though you may not care as much) and gentlemen...David Beckham is coming to America to play in the MLS. He may not be the greatest in the football world, but he certainly is up high on the list. He has played for two of the greats in the world: Manchester United and Real Madrid. And now, he wants to grace the LA Galaxy with his presence.

How much does the world care about this big event? Well, I took a look at some of the major online news sites from America, Britian, and Spain to see what they thought. Here is the breakdown (sites viewed at around 9pm, about 10 hours after the announcement):

• ESPN: the main story on the front page with various articles, predictions and polls
• Sports Illustrated: listed under "top stories" on the side; also a link to photos and featured in the "poll position"


• CNN: tiny blurb about halfway down on the left


• Fox News: tiny blurb at the bottom under "features and faces" to see pictures of Beckham and his ex-Spice Girl wife
• Fox News Sports: the main story, including predictions and reactions


• BBC news: one of four side stories- links to sports page
• BBC news sports: Beckham dominates this page- all of the main stories are about him


• El Mundo: link to a few stories related to Beckham and the move; second main story on the sports page
• Madrid Press: I'm not sure if these are listed in order of publication, but there is an article at the bottom about Beckham leaving Real Madrid; once again the second story from the sports page

I'm not sure I have a point other than looking at how a few parts of the world respond to this move. Personally, I am excited and will be sure to catch a game where Beckham is playing!!

Instant Noodles

Today should be declared a day of mourning for college students and we should all observe a moment of silence. Why, you might ask? What did I miss in the world? Today the inventor of the instant noodle died. I never thought much or cared about instant noodles or the inventor until today (though I have eaten my share of instant ramen). This man did a great thing for the people of the world post WWII- he created a cheep food which was easy to make.

Take a moment and check out a bit more about Momofuku Ando and learn a bit about the origin of a food I'm sure you have eaten.