Wednesday, August 5, 2020

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray...” (Luke 11:1, New Living Translation) 

                Last week, my car was rear-ended when I was stopped at a stoplight. Everyone was okay and the damage to my vehicle was very, very minor. But because it is a lease car, I decided to do my due diligence so that my Subaru dealer doesn’t complain at the end of the lease. I reported the incident first to the local collision centre and  then phoned my insurance company.  To make a long story short, I ended up talking to four different people about this minor accident with a potential of a fifth, should I pursue my claim.

                It is a good thing that our personal communication with God does not work like the insurance business. If it did it might sound like this. I call it:

 “The Fable of the Wonky Donkey”

                Mr. Nobody had a donkey. But the donkey’s hindquarters did not coordinate with his front quarters. He was wonky donkey.  So, Mr. Nobody took his wonky donkey to the vet. She took down all the particulars: his name was Spunky, he was two years old, he had long ears, he was gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky. She took several pictures of Spunky for his records to be kept at the vet’s clinic. But she didn’t think his wonkiness was too serious and sent Mr. Nobody home with a few pain killers.

                But being a conscientious donkey owner, he was still concerned about Spunky. So, he phoned Mrs. Elderberry, the   coordinator of Fairweather Baptist Church’s prayer chain and asked that his donkey be put on the prayer chain. He explained that Spunky was a wonky donkey. Mrs. Elderberry diligently took down all the particulars. Spunky was two years old, with long ears, gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky. Dutifully, she sent the word through the prayer chain with the details and soon all six women were praying for Spunky the wonky donkey.

                The prayer for Spunky was intercepted first by Angel Bob in the Prayer Brokerlink Bureau. It was his job to sort out prayer requests and send them off to the right department. He took his job very seriously, no matter the size of the prayer. He listened very carefully and meticulously took down all the particulars. Spunky was two years old, with long ears, gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky.

                Angel Bob decided that this prayer request needed to go to the Equine Division. He phoned Angel Marylou and told her that he had a prayer request for a wonky donkey.  She was very concerned. She thoroughly took down all the particulars. Spunky was  two years old, with long ears, gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky.

                Once she had recorded everything, Angel Marylou contacted Angel George.  Angel George was a donkey specialist. He knew everything there was to know about donkeys. He painstakingly took down all the particulars. Spunky was  two years old, with long ears, gray and had brown eyes. He was wonky.

                Mr. Nobody had a dream that night in which Angel George spoke to him. He was saddened to hear that Spunky was wonky. His recommendation was to take Spunky to a very expensive specialist who would evaluate Spunky and decide an equally expensive treatment.

                Mr. Nobody thanked the angel but couldn’t help but ask whether his prayer would ever reach God’s ear. Angel George replied that that was not how the system works. Heaven had middle management bureaucracies to help streamline the whole prayer network.  God didn’t have the time to handle every prayer request, personally.

                Mr. Nobody listened to the explanation and asked, “Perhaps, I could speak to your supervisor. Is St. Peter available?”

The End

    Jesus  said to them, “When you pray, say: “ Our Father, who art in heaven…”

    What a relief!

Dale