During a conversation with my former landlord in Northfield, he gave me the Biblical passage to reflect and pray upon whilst dealing with trials: [Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:2-6, NLT [“http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%201:2-6&version=NLT”]] Spiritual warfare aside, what's caught my attention from this passage is the idea of praying to and asking God for what we need, specifically stuff that is the most important in our lives. The last sentence talks about being steadfast in this asking, for which it is easiest to be when we're praying for something, like a job, or a church opportunity, or something more general like life direction. There's also praying for other people, whether it's for something big like their struggles, or for something smaller like hoping a friend's business deal is a success. There's also praying for simple things, like safety while walking through a sketchy neighborhood at night, or down the hill a bit, perhaps not getting pulled over while in a rush to get to the hospital.
But one thing that's sort of pricked my consciousness is prayer for things that somehow might mean something to me, but outside of said meaning doesn't really bear too-too much on my life. For example, something like hoping your guy becomes President of the United States, or your favorite team winning the championship. Things like these fall under the "nations making much ado" category from Psalm 46:6. [“http://bible.oremus.org/“] I mean, I'd love to see the Cubs win the World Series soon, and my arguments for it are 1.) they're my team, and 2.) they haven't won in ages. But outside of that, that particular baseball team and I have practically no bearing on each other's existences. I mean, just because I decide I'm going to someday write a post praying that the Cubs will win a particular game doesn't mean that Derrek Lee will magically run onto this page and feel so moved to post a comment.
I was in a conversation with my dad this morning over what will symbolically be the end of the 2010 Free Agency Season. LeBron James, the last of the big-name players yet to have publicly state his team for the next several years, could still play for the Bulls. But is this something I should even bother to try to pray for? Some say no, for when we step back we realize that sport is but folly in the grand scheme of things. Even if the man chooses the team I really don't want him to go, the Miami Heat, my life will still go on and I will be focused on things that were always more important anyway. I suppose if what I consider to be the "nightmare scenario" were to occur, the worst thing that happens is I lose motivation to follow the NBA for a few years.
When I was at St. Thomas, one of our priests for my last couple years, Father Griesedeck (sp?), prayed with us before many of our games, whether in soccer, basketball, or softball. Sure, he prayed for safety and fun, and that's all hunky-dory, but he also prayed for victory, which as middle schoolers I'm sure we all loved. But looking back, I have to ask: is it right to pray for victory, especially when lives aren't hanging in the balance? When do you stop praying? Where is that line that divides things that are worthy of prayer from things that aren't?
I'm tempted to pray that Mr. James will choose Chicago's professional basketball club as his next primary employer. I'm also tempted to pray that, barring the first option, that he will return to his previous employer in Cleveland. Problem? Temptations aside, there's the divided loyalty on my part: 1.) I want him in Chicago, and 2.) I want him, for the sake of the little remaining good that is left in sport and for the long-suffering city of Cleveland, to return to the place that's nurtured him in so many ways over the first 25 years of his life.
Mr. James will make his announcement in less than two hours. Worlds will collide. The Sears Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will all collapse when he announces he's joining his buddies in Miami [note sarcasm]. In other words, the nations will make much ado, and the kingdoms will be shaken. But honestly, that's about all that's going to happen. If you ever saw God touch the earth, you'd see it melt away; and if that were to happen, there would be no more LeBron James. Or Cleveland Cavaliers. Or the National Basketball Association. Or the United States. Or even the entire freaking earth.
That being said, I'm not going to pray about this, because even if Mr. James were to join my favorite basketball team and lead us to the championship next year, my life will still be the same. It stayed the same when the Blackhawks won the Cup last month. So I have decided that this is when I stop praying, because in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter.