Text-Message for Additional Prayer Support

Yesterday morning my cell phone “chirped at me” soon after my alarm went off. It was a text message.

“Travelling in bad weather,” it said, “prayers appreciated”.

So I started my day with my son in mind. “Keep him safe, Lord. He’s a careful driver, but winter storms can be the worst. Please keep him safe, warm. Protect him —and those he’s with— from mishap or breakdown during this storm.”

“Pray for the drivers,” his next message said “we have a very long day ahead of us”. Twelve students from Cornerstone University were on their way to an all-day honors band event, but he wasn’t driving, which was fine with me. This arctic surge we’re enduring in the Great Lakes area was in the process of dumping tons of lake affect snow on western Michigan. Add 25 – 30 mile per hour winds and you have university students driving in a full-fledged blizzard as they leave Grand Rapids, heading for Adrian, Michigan in the southeastern part of the state. I’m glad Jared TM’d me (short for text-message). It gave his parents the privilege of praying for him through the day, and not just as he travelled.

As night fell I tried to imagine what time they might be leaving, particularly if they had an evening concluding concert and had to load up and drive back. Prayer is THE best anti-worry tool in the world. When I’m talking to the universe’s Designer, Creator and Sustainer my worrisome energy fades to black in a hurry.

I checked Grand Rapids weather online. “Your kidding! It’s STILL snowing and blowing there; has been all day! They have to drive right back into it to get home.” I prayed for those kids through the evening, asking God to take good care of them and bring them in safely.

9:51 pm From: Jared

Driving back in a blizzard please pray for safety and god’s strenth for the drivers

9:53 pm To: Jared

We definitely will, Buddy. Where abouts are you now?

9:55 pm From: Jared

10 miles from the beltline (Cornerstone‘s on E. Beltline)

9:58 pm To: Jared

In the worst of it then

9:59 pm From: Jared

Yeah

I prayed for those kids while we watched the news and weather here at home. When they showed us Wisconsin’s weather maps I took special note of western Michigan conditions and continued to pray.

10:19 pm To: Jared

Let us know when you’re safely there OK? We’re praying you in.

Brenda and I closed up the house and prayed together as we do at the end of the day, Jared and the kids from Cornerstone were at the top of the agenda this time.

At 11:10 pm my phone rang. Ah-good! Our son and the weary students from CU are safely back on campus. (Thank You, Lord!) We talked for a while about the day, what he learned watching another composer conduct his own material (He’ll be doing that soon). He described the storm and some of the idiotic drivers that made things worse out there. The blizzard warning will probably be in effect through to sometime Monday, so everyone’s staying put Sunday. Three feet of snow on the ground, with nine more inches to arrive on Sunday, blizzard-style?!! Nope, not going ANYwhere tomorrow. It’ll be a good day to stay in, get caught up or ahead on assignments, and over-indulge in hot chocolate!

I’m glad he TM’d yesterday morning. He called in prayer support at the beginning of the day, his mom and I were able to cover him in prayer through the day, and at the end of the day we all could affirm: God answers prayer. He did again today.

Phil—

The days you hem in prayer don’t unravel.