Feeling the need to pray? Pull over

By Darrell Laurant

Published: March 19, 2008

(Second in an Easter series on prayer)

You may have seen the signs, scattered here and there on roadsides throughout the Lynchburg area. “Please Stop,” they say. “I Want to Pray With You.”

And occasionally, according to Timberlake United Methodist Church pastor Larry Davies, people do.

“We just set up a sign and a couple of chairs out in front of the church,” Davies said, “and we’ve actually had some responses. To be honest, we weren’t sure what to expect.”

The idea has taken hold throughout the local United Methodist District, suggested by the Rev. David Drinkard, the district superintendent.

“At Timberlake, it’s part of our Lenten Worship Series on prayer,” Davies said. “We’ll be out by the side of the road until March 31, and we’ve also set up a Web site (http://www.PrayWithYou.org) so people can enter their prayer requests that way.”

Prayer is a fascinating thing, when you think about it. Rarely is there any sort of direct response, and many prayers go unanswered. Yet those of us who believe in it always find it comforting and hopeful.

“Sometimes,” said the Rev. David Bonney of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Midlothian, who is credited with being the originator of the ‘roadside prayer’ idea, “God’s answer to a prayer is no. The Apostle Paul prayed three times to have the ‘thorn in his flesh’ taken away, and all three times the answer was no.

“But when that happens, we have to look to the possibility that God may be doing something that we’re unaware of. There is always a purpose here.”

The Rolling Stones may have put it as well as any saint: “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find … you get what you need.”

“That’s not in the Bible,” Bonney said, “but it could be.”

Bonney has also seen — and chuckled over — that wonderful scene in the movie “Bruce Almighty” where Jim Carrey, anointed God of Buffalo by the Big Guy (Morgan Freeman) sits down at his computer, sees the message, “You’ve got prayers,” and is confronted with several thousand requests. Taken aback, he hits “Yes” to answer all of them
simultaneously.

In the next scene, a TV newscaster is reporting that thousands of people have won the New York State Lottery — all of them from Buffalo.

When Bonney first set out his own “I Want to Pray With You” banner in a grove of pine trees in front of his church last September, he had no expectations.

“Some people worry what other people are going to think,” he said. “If you’re out by the side of the road praying, it must mean that you’ve had some family tragedy, or maybe you’re on cocaine.”

Bonney had decided to take off a week from his normal ministerial duties (“Unless somebody dies,” I told my congregation, “leave me alone”) to interact with the larger community. The “Pray With You” banner was part of a one-man campaign that also included door-to-door visits.

“We really had a good response,” he said.

And these people weren’t praying to win the lottery.

“Quite a few were worried that they were going to lose their homes, even back then,” Bonney said. “There were also family problems, and illnesses.”

So why can’t people just pray in the privacy of their own home or vehicle?

“Sure, they can,” Davies said. “God is going to hear your prayers, regardless. But there’s something about being part of a larger community.”

w Back on March 5, I did a column about the Humane Society of Campbell County’s participating in a national Shelter Makeover Contest put on by the Web site Zoo Too. At the time, the shelter was a respectable 18th in the standings, with the Top 20 scheduled to get at least $5,000.

Shortly after the column ran, the Campbell facility began sinking. They’re now 26th, 33,611 points out of 20th.

If you want to help them expand their facility, go to the Zoo Too Web site, click on “Shelter Makeover,” and do whatever they tell you to do. The contest ends March 31, but Susan Janovsky of the Humane Society insists, “It’s not too late.”

Maybe a little prayer would help.