Here in Southwest Florida they are predicting that a cold front will be coming through later in the week and that it will really begin to feel like fall. Our temperatures will be going down to daytime highs in the low eighties! I must admit, as a New Englander, it has taken some real adjustment.
It's a good thing we have sports to keep us on track when it comes to the seasons of the year! After all, the Fall Classic starts this week, and this year features the Red Sox and the Cardinals. Shades of 2004! And of course there is football--the ultimate fall sport. That's really big here in Florida. Friday night high school games. Saturday college games. Sunday pro games. All-season, all-weekend, all-football!
Several years ago the sports related comic strip Funky Winkerbean depicted a team prayer. In the first frame the Coach says to his players, "Remove your helmets [men] and take a knee for the team prayer!" Helmets are removed, heads are bowed, and the coah offers a silent prayer. Then, as the players look up, one of them, gazing across the field, says, "It didn't work, Coach! The other team is still there!"
That is often how prayer is viewed. If we pray the right way, folks often say, if we pray hard enough, often enough, then we will get what we want. But the truth is prayer isn't magic--rather it is how we relate to God."
Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard lived before modern football was even invented. And even if he did live when it was around he would have thought you were talking about soccer if you said football! But when it came to prayer he knew what he was talking about, and was a contemporary as they come. "Prayer, he once wrote, "doesn't change God; rather it changes the one who prays." Wise words--in this season, or any season!
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