pray continually

Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

I met Garth Brooks at a music store in Tulsa a few years ago. I was buying strings for my guitar and he was buying a lot of stuff to go on tour with.

Oddly enough, I had been thinking about him. I had seen this article in one of those checkout rags (I, of course, never read them, of course, just in the checkout line, of course – wink, wink, nudge, nudge) about him and his wife having such trouble.

If you remember, this was probably 7 or 8 years ago, he was acting like an idiot and she left him. I told him that I had seen that and was praying for him.

Since I am not a country fan (I didn’t tell him that) I didn’t gush. And I have met and talked to enough famous and “important” people I don’t anyway.

Long story short (too late), he stood there and told me all his problems and all the things he was trying to do to reconcile his marriage. He talked almost an hour to me while we stood there.

When he was through, we shook hands and said good bye.

It was an odd conversation, considering that he didn’t know me from Adam (although I was wearing clothes) and the conversation would probably not go anywhere. But we talked for quite a while.

I suppose that my opening comment was different from any other he had gotten. I told him I had been thinking about him and had read the articles in the magazines about him and his wife. I also told him that I knew most of that was made up and you needed to half it just to make sure you had the gist.

But I also told him that even if I cut the hype in half, it was obvious that he was having trouble, and that I was praying for him. There are not many who do that, I suppose. I didn’t even ask for his autograph.

The same thing happened when I met James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek) at a Trek Con in Tulsa that same year. When I went up to his table (to get an autograph this time), I told him that I had known his character for longer than I had even known my wife, that he had been such an integral part of my life. And I told him that I was praying for him and hoped he was happy.

He looked at me for a moment, took my hand for a moment – until his handler or agent or whatever made a noise – and then I left.

People are dying to know that someone is praying for them. Even Christopher Hitchens, the famous atheist who is currently dying of cancer, was pleased in a way when he found out that many were praying for him. It touched him on that basic level that all men have, no matter what they profess – that level that really knows God is real.

Several years ago, we prayed for a woman to be healed. She was in the hospital and quite ill. She got out the next day. I told her we were praying for her. She said, oh, I know prayer helps. I said, laughing, oh no. Prayer doesn’t help. Prayer heals. You are out of the hospital, aren’t you? She got the most puzzled look on her face. It suddenly dawned on her that something had happened.

We pray knowing that every time we do, God hears. He may not tell us what we want to hear, he may not even answer us at all, but he hears.

Thank you, Lord.