Last fall we lost our power because of a freak snowstorm and had to stay at my daughter’s house for a couple of days. One of those evenings I got home from work early. The house was empty. I ducked into a closet to pray. There’s biblical precedence for praying in a closet (check Matthew 6:6), but mostly I do it because it’s a quiet place free of distractions. With my cell phone off, my Bible open in my lap, I can let go of the busyness of the day.
That evening I must have been pretty focused on my prayers because I didn’t hear my son-in-law Tris come home. I had just closed my Bible and stood up when Tris opened the closet door. We both shouted and then burst out laughing. My family knows I will go to any lengths, even going into hiding, to seek God in prayer.
Here at Guideposts I’m in charge of our prayer ministry. We receive thousands of requests each week, and it’s my job to make sure every person is prayed for. We have a staff and volunteers in every time zone who do just that. Before I went to seminary I worked at IBM. Both backgrounds have proved useful. I’m something of a systems manager overseeing all those requests that come by phone, mail or online. At the same time I am a pastor to some 3,000 prayer volunteers.
There’s something I always stress in their training—this gets back to my closet (you knew I’d bring that up again, didn’t you?). They must be sure to take care of themselves spiritually as they take on the responsibility of caring for others.
Every volunteer is trained to listen closely to what people are saying. Each agrees to pray for at least an hour a week. Many of them have great needs themselves. All of them say that praying for others is enormously gratifying.
Want to become a prayer volunteer yourself? Contact us at (203) 749-0420. For prayer requests, you can write to Prayer Fellowship, P.O. Box 5813, Harlan, IA 51593-1313, call us at (203) 778-8063 or post a request online at ourprayer.org.
And if you’re like me and pray best in a closet, you might want to put a warning sign on the door!
