Monthly Archives: February 2012

Yesterday afternoon, I was hanging out with a group of friends in a coffee shop, sharing jokes, stories, and some Chick-fil-a fries.  At the end of our time together, my friend Damon stopped and asked me, “Patrick, how can I be praying for you?”  Honestly, I had to pause and think for a moment.  Nobody had asked me that in a while, and I didn’t have an answer ready to give.

I had think about what I needed prayer for.

That’s not OK.

If I really believe that prayer is essential to the body of Christ (and I do!), then I need to be intentional about two things: praying for others, and letting others pray for me.  I need to let other people know what’s going on in my life so that, as a community, we can be lifting each other up.

And so, as a response to this realization, I’ve created a new page on my website: Prayer Requests.

I’m committing now to update that page on a regular basis in order to let my brothers and sisters in Christ know exactly how they can be lifting me up in prayer.  As it says on the page, however, there is one caveat:

If I’m letting you pray for me, you gotta let me pray for you.  Use the comment section of that page to let me know how I can pray for you.  It’s a two-way street.  (Well, really a three-way street when you think about it…)

Let’s pray.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent on the church calendar. Every year, I try to give up something like pop, candy, or facebook (and almost every year I fail). This year, however, I’m challenging myself to give up something tough: worrying.

I tend to worry a lot about what the future holds and what tomorrow will look like. Why? Because I’m a graduating senior without a job lined up for after graduation. Two months from this Saturday, I will officially be a college graduate. After April 28th? I have no idea what’s happening.

As someone who’s rather “type A,” it honestly scares me that I have no idea what’s next in my life.

I want to know what’s next.
I want to know what God’s plan is for my life.
I want to be in control.

And yet, I’m not supposed to be in control of my own life. It’s not my job to be worried about what happens next. God’s got my back, and He’ll open the right doors. When I think of His sovereignty, there’s really nothing I need to worry about.

So for Lent this year, I’m giving up worrying.

What are you giving up? Let us know in the comments section below!