Prayers . . .a cowboy prays in the cold . .

Jake, the rancher, went one day
To fix a distant fence.
The wind was cold and gusty
And the clouds rolled gray and dense.

As he pounded the last staples in
And gathered tools to go,
The temperature had fallen,
Snow came and wind began to blow.

When he finally reached his pickup,
He felt a heavy heart.

From the sound of that ignition

He knew it wouldn’t start.

So Jake did what most of us
Would do if we’d been there.
He humbly bowed his balding head
And sent aloft a prayer.

As he turned the key for the last time,
He softly said, no luck
They found him three days later,
Frozen stiff in that old truck.

Now Jake had been around in life
And done his share of roaming.

But when he saw Heaven, he was shocked

It looked just like Wyoming !

photo credit: photobysherman.com

Of all the saints in Heaven,
His favorite was St. Pete.

So they sat and talked a minute or two,
Or maybe it was three.
Nobody was keeping’ score —
In Heaven, time is free.

‘I’ve always heard,’ Jake said to Pete ,
‘that God will answer prayer,
But one time I asked for help,
Well, he just plain wasn’t there.’

‘Does God answer prayers of some,
And ignore the prayers of others?
That don’t seem exactly square —
I know all men are brothers.’

‘Or does he randomly reply,
Without good rhyme or reason?
Maybe, it’s the time of day,
The weather or the season.’

‘Now I ain’t trying to act smart,
It’s just the way I feel.
And I was wondering’, could you tell me —
What the heck’s the deal?!’

Peter listened very patiently
And when
Jake was done,
There were smiles of recognition,
And he said, ‘So, you’re the one!!’

That day your truck, it wouldn’t start,
And you sent your prayer a flying,
You gave us all a real bad time,
With hundreds of us trying.’

‘A thousand angels rushed,
To check the status of your file,
But you know, Jake , we hadn’t heard

From you in quite a long while.’

‘And though all prayers are answered,
And God ain’t got no quota,
He didn’t recognize your voice,
And started a truck in Minnesota .’

BETTER KEEP IN TOUCH

By Brad Curtis? or Author unknown?

sent to me by Chuck Parnell

also posted on fb in “church funnies”

My comment: Prayers don’t really work like that. God is not a genie in a bottle or a Santa keeping score. However He promises to hear and answer our prayers. Sometimes the answer is, “No”, sometimes the answer is, “Yes” and things work out better than I could ever have imagined. It seems right now God’s answer to my prayers is simply, “wait . . wait . . wait  . . and see what I will do in your life . . wait”. So, we stay here, and keep working while we wait.

keep warm where ever you are!