Rick Hamlin Prays on the A Train
Guideposts Executive Editor Rick Hamlin, author of the new book Prayer Works, reminds us that we can pray anywhere, at any time, and reveals that his personal call to prayer is the roar of the subway trains during his morning commute in New York City.
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Hi. I’m Rick Hamlin, and I’ve written a book called Prayer Works. Years ago, I met with a minister, and he said, “You know, to get to know God, you’ve got to spend time with him every day.” I wondered how was I going to find the time to do that?
I started doing it on my subway ride to work. It became my time, my prayer time. I’d sit, close my eyes, check out to check in. You know, you pick a place, and you make it your place of prayer. All the noises of that place become your call to worship, your reminders. This is your prayer place.
When you do something every day, that place feels like your prayer place. That’s what the subway feels like to me. All that noise, the rush and bustle? It’s my call to worship. Rick, it’s time to pray. Like this.
You know, sometimes it’s hard to pray. A couple years ago, I ended up in the ICU. And I just couldn’t pray at all, and then I realized other people were praying for me, maybe here even on a subway train.
There’s two meanings in that word, pray for me. One, pray for me because I need help. But also, pray for me because I can’t pray for myself. I’ll do that here for you on the subway train.