March Sadness: A Time to Pray

The brackets have been set. It’s time for “March Madness” – that wonderful season of the year when college basketball dominates office and coffee shop discussions.  It is a time for the thrill of victory as well as for the agony of defeat.  Underdogs excel. Bracket busters abound.  However, something else dominates the news.  While many of us, me included, enjoy “March madness,” much of the world is enduring March sadness. There is a war in Ukraine.  Thousands have been killed. Millions have been displaced.  Cities have been destroyed, including hospitals, schools, senior adult apartments, and places of worship.  For most of us, it is a tragic war far away.  We grieve for those who hurt.  But we feel helpless.  I was once asked to lead a conference entitled, “When All Else Fails . . . Pray.”  I didn’t much like the title of the conference, but today it seems appropriate.  Brave resistance, as admirable as it is, has not stopped the damage. A mad man continues to give the world March sadness  It is time to pray.  During World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was advised to organize a group of people who would pray for peace every night at a specific time.  After a very short time, the bombing ceased, and peace was restored.  While skeptics try to prove that prayer did not cause the bombing to stop, they are unable to prove that prayer didn’t cause the stoppage. It’s time to pray for peace in Ukraine. In Jeremiah 33:3 God said, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” My friend Linda, a SWBTS graduate and career missionary in eastern Ukraine, has initiated a global, ‘round the clock, prayer strategy for peace in Ukraine.  My time is 9pm (U.S. Central Daylight Time). I invite you to join me.