For a number of years now Canadians have worn red on Fridays, encouraged by the Red Fridays Foundation of Canada (http://www.redfridays.ca/index.htm). This public display shows our respect and that we support our troops who risk their lives for the benefit (especially) of the Afghan people.

Recently I have noticed that few people still follow the practice. Like all things human we lose interest in something after a certain time. That strange habit implies that what we supported no longer needs it. It simply vanishes from our personal radar screen. Read more…

When we accomplish something it feels good if someone notices and compliments us. Often we look for that. Somehow an achievement feels better if we get praise.

There’s a difference between encouragement and flattery, however. Read more…

Many years ago I regularly attended an old-fashioned Baptist prayer meeting. One of the people there, slightly older than myself, did not pray out loud on one occasion that sticks in my memory. A comment was made to her about it. She said she did not feel like praying. That started quite a flurry of comments. She held her ground, and refused to pray words out loud despite pressure to conform to the group’s definition of prayer.

In my thoughts “Time to Pray” the seed was planted about how to define prayer. A step further takes us to the question, “How do I pray without spoken words?”

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Where do I start?

Just the other day I checked an online map service to get the travel time to a work site. It became a metaphor for the way some religious people act. In the case of my map search, despite every attempt, it placed my home address nearly an hour to the west. Even when I entered the address by postal code the programme changed it back to the wrong one.

So I turned to a different service. It put my start point in the right place, but the route choices were wrong. The fastest route showed as the slowest. The time totalled over an hour. In reality it took about forty-five minutes.

The only place for a Christian to begin a life journey of time or education or growing up rests upon the Bible. Some would start with an opinion, or a feeling, or a doctrine or even a denominational tradition. But when you start at the wrong place, whether by seduction of a lie or indiscriminate obedience to human authority, surely the route and timing must be wrong.

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A recent survey on prayer says a Christian prays 8 minutes a day, supposedly. A pastor prays only 4 minutes longer.

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