Many people would find time in the prayer cabin monotonous and boring. I’m eating it up. I have not watched television in days. I don’t know what else is happening in the world other than talking to Brenda about our family. Days here are filled with prayer, reading, listening, prayer walking and fellowship with one of best friends in the world who manages this place. I definitely feel the prayer cover of many who are lifting me up during this retreat. It has been very special.
My day was highlighted with three events. Around noon I took a prayer walk. At the end I walked down to the boat house. I found a rocking chair and lugged it to the end of the pier to pray. There was not a sound other than choir choruses of birds chirping and the occasional fish splashing in the water. I felt the gentle breeze and saw the small shimmering ripples across the water. My tranquility got interrupted by a foreign noise. I knew it was mechanical but had no idea what could make such an awful racket disturbing my peace. The noise did not last long. Suddenly the water began splashing around behind me. I turned to see what in the world was happening. Then it all came together.
The noise I heard was a fish feeder going off. The splashing of the water was fish in a feeding frenzy. I watched for a while and then a prayer formed in my mind. “God, I want to be that hungry for You. You are constantly feeding truth and revealing Yourself. I want to hunger for You as eagerly as those fish feeding.”
Later that afternoon, my host took me to pick up Tucker’s car from a mechanic. I needed to get some minor repair work done on it while here. Another man showed up at the same time we did all waiting on the mechanic. After some time, I asked the other man, “Do you know any good news?” He responded that his good news was he just got off work. I replied, “I know some better news than that. Jesus Christ loves you so much He went to the cross and died so you could be forgiven of all your sins.” The man looked at me for a moment. His words penetrated deep. He said thoughtfully, “That’s not good news. That is the best news. It is the best news of all. Yeah. That is the best news.” He is right you know. The message of Jesus is not just good news. It is the best news.
During the evening I got caught up in reading a book about prayer. Especially prayer that opposes the forces of darkness. The thought occurred to me that the prayers of God’s people ought to be like an areal attack from bombers dropping explosion after explosion on enemy targets. I shut the book to pray on this. I thought about my life at how ineffective so much of my praying has been. I begged God to teach me how to pray. It was with that prayer on my lips that I drifted off to sleep.
The fourth and final day at the prayer cabin awaits.
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