Aaaaaaa! This is CRAZY!
So, if you hadn’t heard, there is a new “outreach” program started by the White House, where you can sign up and get randomly selected for a 5 minute Skype chat with the President of the United States. I’m guessing he does 3-4 of these every Saturday afternoon. Anyway, yours truly signed up on a whim a few weeks ago, and would you believe it? I got chosen! (!!!!) Now, I’m not a big fan of Obama’s policies, but I figured it’s 5 minutes of the undivided attention of the leader of the free world, so why not give it a shot? I was so excited, I could barely sleep last night after I got the “you’ve been selected” email. You better believe I wrote down some notes on what I wanted to say to him.
Here’s the play-by-play:
Today at 1:05pm CST, I was sitting at my kitchen table, and my Skype notifier rang. I freely admit I was a little ( A LOT) nervous as I accepted the call and saw the President appear on my computer screen.
“Hi, Katie,” he said. For a second, I couldn’t think beyond the thought, Oh, wow. He knows my name! It was all a little stunning.
Also, very fictional. Had ya going there for a minute, didn’t I? (Or not. Some of you are waaay too smart.)
Change the scenario a bit: This morning, I prayed for 50 minutes. OK, stifle the yawn. I know. You were all impressed when I talked to the President of the United States of America for 5 minutes today, but the fact that I communed with The King of All That Exists for 10 times as long is no big deal.
Do you see the problem? What is wrong with us?
That’s easy to answer. We tend to be far too in awe of the trappings of this world, of the Shiny Things and Important People we can see and hear and touch. We who are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus forget too often the incredible privilege that is ours. I’ll say it again. We are children of God! He doesn’t just know our names; he knows our hearts, our personalities, our secrets, our struggles.
Because of Jesus, we have the right to come before the infinitely powerful, holy, and awesome God and talk to him about everything and anything, anywhere, anytime. And, as if it couldn’t get any more wonderful, he WANTS us to talk to him. In view of this, neglecting prayer is ridiculous in the extreme. Prayer should be a treasured time, a delight to our hearts.
When I’m thinking right, I can’t help but realize that talking to my Father in Heaven beats Skyping with the President in Washington in every possible way.
Hebrews 10:19, 22 “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (emphasis mine)
Made for Eternity 
great post, katie. really puts things in perspective… and it’s convicting. clever way to get our attention 🙂
Good article. I was fooled at first. It was either from the convincing narrative or my gullibility. You made a good point here. Even as believers, we often don’t realize the great privilege and power we have in prayer. God can do much more than we ask or think (Eph 3:20). But it is really good when we ask as well. I’ll try to remember this during GPG 🙂
I was trying to be tricky to make the point, so you aren’t that gullible. 🙂 It is a good thing to remember during GPG, for sure!
Wow Katie… that was a really good lesson! You really fooled one of my friends when I had him read this! I was a little skeptical, but still very hopeful. You’re right… what’s wrong with us? Thanks for the reminder!