It IS often that someone gets tackled near the sidelines on a football field.
It's NOT often that the reason for the tackle is prayer.
"David, I've got to tell you something! That book has changed my life!!! I can't believe it!"
Keith is a barrel chested friend who is a part of our church "team." By his own admission, he's not a reader. But on the strength of a recommendation, he took our summer challenge to read -- and digest -- Paul E. Miller's book A PRAYING LIFE. It was a suggested assignment over 50 days of summer prayer emphasis, "Converse50."
Which is why he tackled me (not literally, but almost!) on the sidelines of an ISU Football practice this week. As we watched the Cyclones prepare for the season, my friend had a whole 'nother agenda.
To listen to Keith about what the Spirit has done in energizing his praying life is akin to watching a drilling operation hit the mother lode and the gusher popping skyward. His excitement is two-fold: Keith has reconnected with God and God is answering prayer in his life like never before.
THERE'S NOTHING LIKE CONNECTING WITH GOD
Miller's humble book can reopen the Old Testament and New Testament scriptures about you and God truly communicating like few extra-biblical resources can. It's written by a man about his own prayer journey with God, and that of his wife Jill and their family. Connecting with God came out of a seemingly unanswered prayer when their daughter's birth was mishandled, resulting in a life-time disability. They had prayed for a healthy birth and child. What they received was intimacy with God.
If I may put it bluntly, without the kind of excitement my friend Keith has over his newfound relationship with God, life for the most part is rather shallow and hollow. Life makes little sense apart from understanding, through dependent communication with God, that your Father has a larger story He is weaving and an end toward which He is leading in your life.
If your own connection with God is non-existent, or you feel you are "on hold," or perhaps you've really never seen this part of your walk with God gush up with life...I commend to you Paul Miller's book. He will humbly lead you back to your Father. And who knows...
You may find yourself gushing (cf. John 7:37-39).
