a marathon

I'm bracing myself for an incredibly long prayer meeting happening tonight. Now I know that prayer is downright important. We have to pray. But a 5-hour prayer marathon seems way too long even for a pastor. I'm just being honest here. This is one long prayer meeting.

Now I know that it's very "unpastorly" of me to think this way but I have to admit that I'm human too. I get tired. I get bored. I fidget in my seat. I have random thoughts run around in my head. I fall asleep during prayer time. I'm just as human as the next guy.

And I'm not Jesus. But I really admire the guy. How he was able to pray longer than usual and more often than usual too.

Mark 1:35-39 shows us an incredible example of Jesus praying. The day before this took place was one of the longest days of Jesus recorded in the Bible. He was probably dead tired after all that teaching, healing, and driving out demons. But Jesus still managed to get up very early the next morning to pray. I have trouble waking up in the morning just for the sake of it!

And Jesus wasn't looking for an easy 5-minute quick-fix-solution to prayer. He really wanted to spend time with the Father. From the time that Jesus woke up, went to a solitary place, and prayed... to the time that everyone in the house was still sleeping... to the time that everyone woke up... to the time that they realized that Jesus was missing... to the time that they went looking for Jesus... to the time that they finally found Jesus... Jesus was praying! Oh how I really admire the guy.

And so despite my unenthusiasm for marathon-like prayer meetings, I'm going to be there anyway. I bet God will teach me something new tonight.