Episode 279 - The Ballad of Marianne and Paula

About this Episode

I was dumbfounded, in a good way, when a pastor I respect prayed for God to hold Hurricane Dorian at the Central Florida coastline and not permit the storm to go inland.

In 44 years' ordained ministry, I have sedulously prayed never for the weather, "pro" or "con", believing that such a prayer would in all cases be extreme. After all, the Lord said that "it rains on the unjust and the just". Moreover, I had zero faith that such a prayer would ever be answered.

On the other hand, He said to the storm on the sea, "Peace! Be still."

In any event, neither I nor anyone I know personally, whether in formal ministry or not, has ever prayed for a hurricane to stop. Up until last week, I would have considered such a prayer to be out of bounds.

But then a pastor prayed ... out of bounds. And Lo and Behold: Dorian stopped moving west and started moving east.

Three days later a candidate for President prayed a similar prayer to the one that had dumbfounded me. Marianne Williamson tweeted thus (tho' her staff counselled she remove the tweet): "Millions of us seeing Dorian turn away from land is not a wacky idea; it is a creative use of the power of the mind." In other words, Williamson, coming from a somewhat different place, theologically speaking, from my pastor, nevertheless had the same faith. She pumped for "Little Boy" (2015) boldness in calling off Dorian!

This podcast is a personal summons to out-of-bounds faith. Don't generalize or conceptualize, as in "what about the Bahamas?'. Or what about the next big storm, or the one four storms back? Categorizations -- also known as "narratives" -- are the enemy of subjective advance. Remember what the blind man said to the Pharisees, "One thing I know: once I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25). For myself, I was heartened by a person I respect, to pray that God restrain His natural storm in this case.

Next prayer: How 'bout Peace on Earth?