Well, what do you know!

By the pieces announcing themselves lately, I get the feeling that I’m thinking a lot about prayer: how we use and abuse it, what it says about our view of God and ourselves, our image of piety.

Something else that’s trotting along for some time now stems from a remark made by J.W. Krutch on the writing of Henry David Thoreau that I read a while ago: “His humor was, on the other hand, part of his philosophy. He meant his jokes and was never more serious than when he was being funny.”

Have you heard this one?

An overweight man went on a diet. He was so serious about it that he even changed the route he used to follow going to work- it no longer passed the bakery. Then, one morning, to the astonishment and dismay of his supporting colleagues, he walked into the office with the most delicious coffee cake. However, all their scolding could not wipe the heavenly expression from his face. He simply said: “This is a very special cake. I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window, amongst an array of other pastries, was this. I felt it to be no accident, so I prayed: ‘Lord, if you want me to have one of those coffee cakes, let me have a parking space directly in front of the bakery.’ And sure enough,” he continued, “the eighth time around the block, there it was!”

Reading the above with On second thought and God will provide, it seems that timing is an important factor in prayer and our struggles with it.

While on the subject of cars and driving - which seems to be fertile soil for jokes and prayers and jokes about prayers:

The pastor was visiting an elderly member of his parish in hospital. She had an accident and suffered a number of injuries. “What on earth happened?” he inquired. “Pastor” answered the old lady from her hospital bed, “I was on my way home from the hairdresser and was in a bit of a hurry not wanting to miss one of my soapies on television. I might have been driving somewhat too fast, especially with that drizzle that we had yesterday afternoon. The next thing I knew I was skidding out of control. Realising that I wasn’t able to do anything I merely said, ‘Lord, I now place the steering wheel in Your hands.’ And you know what, pastor? He overturned my car  four times!”

George