Fake Prayer and Real Prayer

By Peter Lundell

Jesus would have had a great time with this one: a website offers to have a computer with text-to-speech capability say your prayers for you, so you don’t have to. They “voice each prayer at a volume and speed equivalent to a typical person praying. Each prayer is voiced individually, with the name of the subscriber displayed on screen.” You may choose from Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, or Unaffiliated prayers. For Muslim prayers they even face the speakers toward Mecca. Isn’t that thoughtful?

Don’t laugh; these guys are serious—about making money at least. I clicked on “Protestant” and found I could have a computer say the Lord’s Prayer for me each day for only $3.95 a month. Or I could choose prayers for peace, health, financial help, my children, or get a package deal. Catholics pay 7 cents for each Hail Mary. That adds up, you know.

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When Our Lease Is Done

By Peter Lundell

I recently moved my mother to a new, downsized apartment. At times the process involved careful sorting and packing; other times demanded chucking things in boxes or in the trash. At the end of the move, the walls were bare and wounded with nail holes and plastic drywall anchors. The carpet lay lined and pocked with impressions of once-arranged furniture. And the windows stood stark and vacant against the sunlight. The furniture and decorations that once made it home were gone, leaving only an empty shell.

Throughout our lives we may go through some phases with great care and others with wild abandon. And at each phase of life, we will leave the previous one behind—a place that was once home but is now gone, like an empty apartment.

At death we may leave behind money and furniture, but the life we lived—the space we took up, the “us” that people knew—will be gone, empty as a moved-out-house.

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Our Cry to the Father

By Peter Lundell

On an out-of-town trip, I stayed at the home of our church members. Their baby cried at 3:00 a.m. and again at 6:30 in the morning. Parents of newborns may yearn for the time when their child sleeps through the night. But, not being in such a position, I just listened.

The cry sounded almost like a song calling out to parents. I thought of the babies I’d heard cry: in Minnesota, where I grew up; in Haiti, where they’re born into abject poverty; in Japan, a completely different race and culture. The cries were similar. Rich or poor, Eastern or Western, the babies all called out to parents.

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Our DNA: The Fingerprint Of God

By Peter Lundell

People talk casually about their DNA and how it determines who they are. So I wondered, Is that something through which I can connect with God?

Under super magnification the DNA molecule looks like a spiraling ladder, commonly called a “double helix.” DNA is made up of four chemical bases linked like ladder rungs along the spiraling helix.

DNA contains the genetic instructions—twisted, compacted, and packaged into X-shaped chromosomes—that direct every nucleus of living cells. They might be human, animal, plant, even virus (though viruses act differently—they’re always bad boys). Humans have twenty-three pairs of chromosomes (including those pesky Y chromosomes responsible for all the men in the world).

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Lessons From The Raft

By Peter Lundell

Recently I went whitewater rafting with my friend Ronnie. Our group of seven shoved into the river for what became a living parable of life.

Though we wore helmets and lifejackets, nothing kept us in the raft but our feet jammed into the toeholds. In life, we can get all the insurance and security we want, but whether we avoid danger or disaster is partly out of our control in the churning world through which we travel.

At one point the raft went vertical on its side and all but one of us fell out. In life, from beginners to experts, we all get thrown for tizzies. And when we do, it’s critical that we look out for each other and help each other get back in the boat.

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