Are You An Answer To Prayer?

I pray it doesn't snow. I pray I can get out of bed. I pray for a better year than last year. I pray for my car to start. I pray for __________. Do you pray? Well, it is an honest question. If we are created by God with God's image tucked within us then it stands to reason that we would have a penchant to want to converse with the Almighty. Is there anything to big or too small to lift in prayer to the one who placed the stars in place and named them one by one (Isaiah 40:26)?

I love when people walk up to me and tell me, "I pray for you and your family everyday." It is as if someone put an IV of Monster energy drink in my arm and set it to drip at 15 ml. per minute. I feel good. I get excited. I sense a special blessing that someone would expend time lifting me before the Lord and offer their love to me in this spiritual discipline.

So, it was with some glee that I received this email. It landed in my spam box and for good reason.

I am pretty sure that all scammers have an identical email template that is shared across their networks since they almost all sound the same. An aging widow (3 years older than me) near death has a huge sum of money they want to give away or share with some awesome person they found on the internet. I am already feeling the love here. What caught my attention was how this widow prayed to the Almighty about choosing me to benefit from her wealth. Usually a person prays to become wealthy and not necessarily to pray for someone on whom they might dump a pile of money.

Clearly, this spam is a trap with a 100 triggers to get some naive person to bite and clearly I am not one of those fish looking for the alluring bait that conceals a hook. Never the less, I find it humorous that one used all the right spiritual terminology to present me an opportunity of a lifetime.

As I pondered what I could do with $14,500,000.00, it occurred to me that I may not be using what little I do have to positively affect the Kingdom of God. Have you ever done an audit on your resources and tallied how much of it goes to your local church or an effective non-profit charity? The telling tale of any one of us in regards to our financial support of ministry and mission can often be reflected in our checkbooks (Whether an actual checkbook or your online account book spreadsheet).

For now, I will selectively delete this heart felt, genuine, and legitimate scam letter and move toward a life of gratitude for what I do have. I will strive to earn as much as I can, to save as much as I can, and then to give away as much as I can.

"Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will

have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad,

because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man

to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:21-24, NIV)

While it isn't a sin to be rich, God does call us into account for what we do with our financial gains.

"A Musing Pastor"

PS: If you get a sketchy email from me offering you an exorbitant amount of money, please disregard and report it as spam.