The other day, I read this article in World magazine about a woman who had prayed for a Vietnam POW when she was in middle school after buying a bracelet with his name on it. Recently, she thought of him again, dug out the bracelet, and was happy to find out that he'd returned safely to the United States. She tracked him down, and plans to attend a speech he is giving so they can meet face to face. After I read the story, I wondered why World would have published the article. I thought it was strange (and a little flaky, to be honest) for a woman to suddenly place so much importance on the fate of a man whom she'd all but forgotten for years. I mean, it was pretty obvious that she had stopped praying for him long before she ever found out how God might have answered her prayers. I understand joy in seeing the results of personal effort and agony, but what is the point in pursuing something so passionately that has been forgotten and neglected for years?
A few hours (and a read-through of Andree Seu's excellent article in the same issue) later, the point of the article penetrated my thick skull. The real joy of the woman must be in knowing that, despite the fact that she wasn't faithful to pray for this soldier until he came home, despite the fact that when she had been praying for him, she was probably too young to even understand what she was asking, in spite of all human weakness and faithlessness, God was faithful to answer her prayer. Isn't that part of the glory of prayer? Even though we can't possibly understand all of the implications of the requests we bring before God (we must sound terribly naive), God listens intently. Even though our prayers are sometimes motivated by selfish thoughts, the Almighty God treasures them as a precious aroma. Even though we could not possibly be as faithful in prayer as we ought to be, God is faithful to answer our prayers. May God grant me the passion that woman has for seeing God's grace demonstrated through fulfilled prayers.
It is now officially the holiday shopping season, since I have started receiving cheesy catalogs chock-full of festive cheapness. Anticipating a good laugh, I was instead alarmed by the violence depicted in this year's catalogs. Here are some examples that will shock and disgust you:
No animals were harmed in the making of this catalog... Oh yeah, except Paula Penguin over there, who was apparently put on the rack for not being cute enough.
Some people *liked* the part in Frosty the Snowman where Frosty gets locked in the greenhouse. Those holiday movies have something for everyone.
I don't even want to know what happened to these snowmen.
This gives new meaning to comparing Santa's stomach to a bowl full of jelly.
For those who confuse The Night Before Christmas with The Wizard of Oz
A realistic depiction of what would happen to a reindeer should it venture onto an Ohio road.
To add a festive flare to your shrunken head collection. In case the Santa head is lonely for snoman friends. And, for headhunters who are really more into quantity than quality.
For the truly sadistic, snowman heads on fire.
Snowman being disemboweled.
Snowman lobotamy. And again in a subtler form.
I guess one of my grad school professors was right--the definition of something that is cute is something that can be killed easily. :)
I laughed so hard I... well, I laughed hard. Thanks to Qwantz for showing me the way to this video.