Recently in Prayer Category

The horror of that day will be forever etched in our minds. We will not forget the victims, their families or those who committed this evil:

Please join me in praying for the friends and family of those who died on 9-11, may God comfort them as they grieve their loss. And I'm also praying that we will not lose our resolve to bring those who conspired against us to justice.

So, I'm glad that I can agree with Piper's latest comments (unlike his comment about the tornado) about the president's upcoming address on Tuesday to the nation's schools. Shocked that I'm not marching in lockstep with other righty bloggers? That I don't view this as propaganda? That I actually think for myself?

Well, I do and I think it's a great idea that Obama is planing a speech about "personal responsibility and challenging students to take their education" seriously. This is a message that our kids need to hear and Obama is probably the perfect person to deliver that message. He's the leader of the nation and someone the kids respect. I agree with Education Secretary Arne Duncan it's been way too long since a president has addressed the kids.

And I say Amen to Piper's prayer:

Father, the condition of our schools and families is so broken that nothing seems to be working, especially for the poor in our urban centers. Help our president to have the courage to use his amazing place of influence to speak into this situation in such a way that boys and girls would take their studies seriously

I find this controversy pretty disrespectful to the office of the president. If George W. Bush had planned a speech and there had been this much uproar, I would be saying something similar. Obama has every right to address the kids and I wish that we could chill and listen to what he has to say and encourage our kids to think for themselves.

(via)

We are so blessed to live in a country where we have the freedom to practice our religion, but with that freedom comes responsibility. We need to remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted around the world in the name of Islam. I know that the busyness of life keeps me from remembering them, but here's a very grim reminder:

Al Shabaab Islamist rebels shot Mohammed Sheikh Abdiraman to death at 7 a.m., eyewitnesses told Compass. They said the Islamic extremists appeared to have been hunting the convert from Islam, and when they found him they did not hesitate to shoot him.

The sources told Compass that Abdiraman was the leader of an underground "cell group" of Christians in Somalia.

"We are very sad about this incident, and we also are not safe," one eyewitness said by telephone. "Pray for us."

[...]

The militants reportedly beheaded seven Christians on July 10, and refugees from Somalia tell of other attacks.

He doesn't want to disrupt DC churches with gawkers displacing the members of the church and he doesn't want to choice between the many black churches that were vying for his attendance. He'll be going to the same church that Bush attended and will be able to worship in peace.

The chaplain is the grand-nephew of Johnny Cash:

Camp David's current chaplain, Lieut. Carey Cash, leads the services at Evergreen. If the White House had custom-ordered a pastor to be the polar opposite of Jeremiah Wright, they could not have come as close as Cash. (As it is, the White House had no hand in selecting Cash. The Navy rotates chaplains through Camp David every three years; Cash began his tour this past January.) The 38-year-old Memphis native is a graduate of the Citadel and the great-nephew of Johnny Cash. He served a tour as chaplain with a Marine battalion in Iraq and baptized nearly 60 Marines during that time. Cash earned his theology degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth -- and, yes, that means Obama's new pastor is a Southern Baptist.

But according to the article he won't be his spiritual adviser, Obama already has men to fill that role:

Obama has a small group of pastors he contacts for prayer and spiritual support (including two men who played the same role at times for Bush).

Those two, Kirbyjon Caldwell and T.D. Jakes, are both African-American ministers from Texas. Caldwell offered a prayer at Bush's first inauguration and in 2008 he officiated at Jenna Bush's wedding.

I'm glad he'll be attending a church that avoids anti-Semitic and racially charged language and sticks with the solid biblical teaching. I pray his faith is strengthened and he comes to a better understanding of the God he serves.

Though, from a Christian perspective it's a shame that one of his advisers is a heretic (T.D. James is a Oneness Pentecostal and denies the Trinity and the unique personhood of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter is on life support:

The girl's 7-year-old brother found her on a treadmill with her neck on a cable attached to the exercise machine at their Phoenix home, police Sgt. Andy Hill said, calling it a "tragic accident."

[...]

Responding officers and firefighters performed CPR on the girl as they rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she was in "extremely critical condition" and on life support, Hill said.

Please join me in praying for the family and their daughter. It doesn't sound hopeful.