No prayer tonight

There will be no official gathering of the Tuesday Night Prayer Group (TNPG) this evening. After George reminded me of that at our regular Tuesday lunch date (RTLD), I peddled back to my office contemplating this singular fact. The first thought that came to mind was that I will miss seeing everyone, miss catching up on how things are going in each others lives. How did the teaching gig go today, were you able to teach any more tennis lessons? Is the anemia subsiding? I am already missing the guitar playing and singing. Also just sitting there listening, soaking up His presence and the unmistakable synergy of gathering and sharing with others of His own. So many sparkling facets of our weekly event that ground me, grow me and challenge me. Yet mostly, the actual 'praying' part is often awkward for me. I still struggle with prayer. I mean really, if I struggle talking in front of a small crowd of just ordinary folks, what words can I speak to the creator of the whole flippin universe? Just keying that sentence into this post is more than a bit intimidating. So there I said it, praying is hard.

Last Sunday a gentleman by the name of Ben Patterson spoke at First Pres. Here is an excerpt from his book "Deepening your Conversation with God". I think he and I are from the same gene pool

I’'m not “into” prayer. I seem to have missed the religious gene or whatever it is that makes people enjoy the act of praying. It’s not my nature to pray. I’'m not into prayer, I am into God! I thirst and hunger for God, I ache for God. Without His everlasting arms holding me up, I will fall. So I must pray.