Praying the Communication Questions

When I was a teen-ager, laying on a hospital bed with a broken second vertebra of the neck, hearing skilled surgeons agree that it was a miracle that I was alive and not paralyzed, I had just enough spiritual background to know that if I was alive by miracle, it was God’s doing. In school, I had recently been introduced to the Classic Communication Questions, who, what, where, when, why, and how. I also had been learning how to pray.  So, I prayed, “Lord, because you have spared my life, I am Yours.  I am willing to follow Your will as it relates to who, what, where, when, why, or how.”  That was seventy years ago. The “who” is obvious.  The “what” includes pastor (twice), interim pastor (30 times), collegiate minister (15 years on 3 campuses) National Evangelism Consultant (3 years, NAMB) professor (22 years, one seminary), writer (27 books plus one weekly post on social media with several thousand followers).  “Where” includes all fifty states, every Canadian province, and fifty-nine countries.  “When” I retired from my full-time faculty position, the call continued. This week I begin my twentieth year as an adjunct professor with fifty-six students in an online class, “Prayer and Global Ministry.” “Why” (I’m waiting until I get to heaven for that full answer).  “How” (“To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily” or The Living Bible paraphrase, “This is my work, and I can do it only because Christ’s mighty energy is at work within me” (Colossians 1:29). Be careful what you pray.