July 1st

Ahhhhhh. July 1st. The air is sticky and humid, and it is unbelievably hot. At least 152*.....Celsius! PTL for the invention of air conditioning.




July means ripe watermelons the size of mini-vans, kids running through sprinklers, fireworks displays, patriotism, and vacations.



It also means that kick-off to college football is in 66 days. How 'bout them dawgs!? (Living amongst the enemy is never easy, but when one of their teams wins a national title in anything, it makes it even more so. Plus this year we have a good chance of NOT beating USC in football.)



But this year, July will be dampened a bit. Please pray for my Mom and Dad. Both are in poor health. So, we will take our "vacation" and go to possibly the hottest place in the universe, in the middle of the hottest month, and see them. My mom's next Dr's appointment is July 12 at MD Anderson, where she will have a PET scan. I believe that my dad is too stubborn to get worse, but pray his heart holds out through this next few weeks of intense stress, and that we can convince him to have the angioplasty before mom's "completely well."



Hmmm. Is stubbornness hereditary?

Prayer Jumble

Someone sent this to me in an email recently.



Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.




I'm not sure about the origins, and a quick internet search found evidence that this has nothing to do with Cambridge University. What I do know is that I read it through the first time with no problems, so there must be a kernel of truth in there somewhere.

What I did think about though, is how the jumbled up words resemble the mess we often make of our prayer lives. Paul states that we don't really know how to pray. We send up prayers to God but they are jumbled up and nonsensical. But Holy Spirit takes that jumbled up mess and makes it whole, complete, and ready for the Father's ears. (See Romans 8:26-27)

When I hear people say, "I don't know how to pray." or "I don't know what to pray." I give them some simple advise that I'll pass on to you now...Don't worry about it. The most eloquent prayers you've ever heard still receive a rewrite from Holy Spirit. God knows the intent of our hearts and that means more than a well strung set of verbiage. So pray, cry, laugh, mumble, sing, or whisper to God. He knows our hearts and will answer.