Talking With God: Life Is Crazy, Prayer Is SimpleSample

Not a Runner. Marathons.

In my brief thirty-four years of living, I’ve already found that life isn’t a fifty-yard dash. It’s a lot more like a marathon.

Sometimes you feel like you could run forever, and other times you’re so dog-tired that taking another step seems impossible.

However, there is one big difference between life and an actual marathon.

In life, there aren’t always people cheering you on.

Earlier we looked at Paul’s words to a group of Christians in the city of Thessalonica. Reminder: Paul was explaining to them how to live as Christians. He told them to “pray without ceasing.” However, a few verses before that, Paul told them, and us, to “encourage one another.” More literally, that could be translated as “comfort” or “strengthen” one another.

This same word—encourage—can also be translated as “pray.”

When life is a marathon, is there anything more powerful we can do for each other? In a world that is quick to tear down and discourage, is anything more needed?

This summer, I felt like I was supposed to pray for random people. Strangers. I wound up making a four-by-eight-foot sign with the words “Need prayer?” Then, I put it in my car and drove to the busiest road in Sioux Falls. I set the sign against the side of my car and sat on a lawn chair beside it. I couldn’t have felt more awkward. I kept thinking, There is no way people are going to stop. But they did.

A college girl stopped on her way to school. “I’m running late for class, and it’s my final test of the semester. But when I saw the sign, I felt like I was supposed to stop. Can you pray for me?” Another person stopped and asked if he could pray for me. I didn’t expect that. The man asked me for specific things he could pray for and then he prayed. I was so encouraged by his simple, heartfelt words.

I’ve heard that the hardest part of running a marathon isn’t the end. It’s the places along the 26.2-mile route where there is no one along the path cheering. The hardest sections are those places where you feel like you could quit running and no one would even notice.

I’ve found the same is true in life.

How can you encourage others through prayer?