Theologians
define nuances and spin eloquent explanations about prayer. Pastors spend time
encouraging and inspiring their congregations, urging them to pray. Authors
write books and study guides to promote more effective praying. Small groups
are scattered across the landscape sitting knee-to-knee, holding hands and
intoning deep, hopeful desires.
Pragmatists
wonder, “Does prayer work?” Is anything going to happen? Sometimes life throws
something akin to a Justin Verlander fastball, 100 miles per hour, high and
inside. (Verlander is the Detroit Tigers’ ace World Series pitcher. GO TIGERS!
About three years ago we woke up to the reality that Pat has Parkinson’s
Disease (PD) and we have enlisted everyone we know to pray for her healing, and
for both of us as we cope with a debilitating disease. Both Pat and I have been
Jesus’ followers since we were elementary school age. We learned to pray as
children and continue to grow in our prayer experience. Prayer sustains and the
Spirit warms our hearts, urges us to trust, and encourages us to try again when the
high inside fastball is followed by a slow breaking slider at which the best of
hitters swing and miss. But the best of hitters don’t
quit after strike two! Praying people don’t quit either!
I
made an investment at a garage sale where
I purchased Michael
J. Fox's memoir, Lucky Man for $1.00. The actor of TV and big
screen fame announced he has youthful onset Parkinson’s in the 1990's and has
become an advocate for PD research and understanding in the marketplace.
Explanation of symptoms and frustration from another voice made the memoire
helpful, but was a difficult read for a couple of reasons. First it is laced
with profanity and reveals a lifestyle hard for Jesus followers to admire.
Second Fox’s
experiences and ours are too painfully similar.
It
is safe to say that Michael J. Fox does not define prayer as we have learned
and experience prayer. But, he is a pragmatist! He answers emphatically,
“Prayer works!” As I cruised toward the conclusion of the book, I was startled
by the
following lengthy quote.
“At one time or another, during times of personal struggle or
loss, we’ve all heard people tell us they would ‘pray for us.’ Just an expression, I’d always
thought, until I felt the power of that sentiment when it was offered, and meant,
by tens of thousands of people. The feeling is overwhelming; I have no doubt
that being on the receiving end of so much spiritual energy has gone a long way
to sustain me over the last couple of years. I no longer underestimate the
power of prayer.
“Nor, it seems, do some scientists. I recently read about an
experiment in which researchers at Columbia University tested the power of
prayer to help women with fertility problems. A group of strangers . . . in
America, was asked to pray for a group of women in a Korean fertility clinic
who had no knowledge of the experiment. At the same time, a separate control
group at the clinic received no prayers. At the end of the study, fifty percent
of the women who’d been prayed for got pregnant, while only twenty-six percent
of the control group conceived. This is the exactly opposite of what the
researchers expected – their stated intention had been to disprove the efficacy
of prayer.”
Pat
and I pray daily for friends whose daughter suffers from cancer, some who are
unemployed, others whose children are unsaved, for our neighbors, and our
church. Pat’s health and other challenges we and others face remain as
difficult as a major league pitcher’s “cutter.” We have learned about prayer,
but we are also pragmatists. “Prayer works!” Thanks for your prayers!
