Day Two

Tonight, I saw prayers answered. Prayers I should have prayed and prayers I forgot I prayed. As I was leaving school, I just made a train that I should have missed. Really, I did miss it. At the last minute, the doors reopened for no reason. I rushed on and collapsed in a heap of gratitude.

Shortly afterward, I got a call that only made matters better. It was bad news, but it was the best bad news ever. A friend had gotten some bad news, but hearing him tell the story, I was filled with pride at how he handled it. It reminded me what a strong and brave man he is, something I'm not sure he really knows about himself. What's more, this experience has given him a glimpse into that strength, something I prayed for him a while ago and had long since forgotten until tonight.

So my prayer for tonight is that he can boot and rally. In college terms, "boot-and-rally" described the act of getting drunk, vomitting, and then going right back to the drunken partying with a clean slate, so to speak. I pray he can process the bad news without allowing it to immobilize him: taking strength from the fact that the situation didn't kill him and from the knowledge of how brave he was to take a chance in the first place.

Today, to end my class, my teacher had us listen to the story of Gideon. I know the story, and it's pretty incredible. I had never payed attention to the beginning, though. God told Gideon he was going to use him to defeat the Midianites. He told him if he had any doubts he should go with his armorbearer down to the Midianite camp and eavesdrop on their conversation. Apparently Gideon did have some doubts, because he went. What he heard was one Midianite soldier telling another about a dream he had the night before. The second Midianite soldier said, "That dream can only mean that Gideon's God is going to give him the power to kill us all." I gave God one of my knowing, you're-so-ridiculous looks. All of that to say, today I'm most grateful that God is still up to his old tricks and he has been doing the amazing things he does in my life for a very long time.