Let me start this blog off by saying we all have a past. We spend the greater majority of our lives trying to overcome it, ignore it, or just move forward. I open this blog this way for two reasons. The first is because I don’t have permission to share any on Mark’s past, nor do I see it as my story to tell. Second is because I’m writing about him because of today’s conversation, and how it is evidence of true transformation despite any story of who he used to be. The one comment I will say is that through all my high school years, his house was one I usually steered clear of because of what I had heard and who I knew him to be.
Flash forward several years to today when he walked into our offices to pick up the key to church for the prayer meeting later that night (that he is now leading). I thought I recognized his face, but after I heard what he was saying, I thought that surely this couldn’t be the same guy. I retraced my memories trying to figure out who else he could be, but couldn’t come up with an alternate conclusion. Finally, he turned to me and asked if there was anything I would like to add to the prayer request list for later that night. He told me the men of the church had already been praying for me, and it would be nice to have further specifics and updates occasionally too.
Now I don’t know if I’m portraying the confusion in my writing that I had at this moment when this question was asked of me. But, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to have a group of men pray for me, so I let him have it. I told him about the work in the Philippines, the golf tournament we have with beLOVE coming up in a little over a month, and the trip to Mozambique at the beginning of August. I rambled for several minutes and then finally took a breath. I didn’t realize just how much I needed prayer for. He then launched into a story that really opened my eyes to the true transformation that had happened in his life and was sweeping through many of the men in our church.
He told me a story about a very popular evangelist and his prayer partner. The evangelist traveled all over the world and led revivals that introduced many people to the Bible and Christianity and this relationship with God. People in several countries knew his name and traveled from all over to hear his message. Early on, this man knew the power of prayer and how meaningful it can be to have people literally fighting for you on their knees. He found a man that knew how to do this and was deeply devoted to the “simple” task of praying for the ministry. This prayer partner would pray so hard and unceasingly that after many of the revivals, he would end up in bed from sickness and exhaustion. One story was told that the prayer partner was traveling one time with the evangelist during one of the revivals. During the night of the event, the prayer partner locked himself in the storm cellar of their host and prayed without ceasing. The owner of the house was so confused that he ended up sitting outside of the storm cellar, listening to the prayer. When the man finally finished praying, his host was there because he wanted whatever that man was praying about. Thus the prayer partner became the evangelist.
Before too long, the prayer partner died while the evangelist was still traveling and preaching. This man was still an effective communicator and strong leader, but the public noticed his ministry had changed. When he was asked the reason, he attributed it to his friend’s death because his partner’s prayers were what made his words effective and kept him on point. While no man can be any more effective than God, our prayers outweigh our gifts any day of the week.
So Mark told me this is why the men in our church pray constantly and refuse to take a week off. He also told me to keep him posted and updated on what all I was doing and I would be continually lifted up by them. I wasn’t looking at the same man I remembered from high school. Aside from that, I was just so thankful because there seems to be this huge misconception that prayer is – and please forgive me for this one- the “woman’s work”. I was so blessed to know that a group of strong men were going to gather together and pray for me tonight. And again twice more this week, and then repeating the whole process again next week. Men of prayer. No longer an oxymoron…
