The Thirteenth Day...

Nearly to the end of my two week experiment with adventures in prayer, where I promised to report all that was happening, and so I will. A scientist makes detailed notations even of mistakes in order to be more exact with proven outcomes. I think the same accuracy is required here. Thus, I must now touch on a subject that might be objectionable to some. So, if you are of the more genteel sort (whom I dearly love -- we need all personality types in this world) you may want to skip this post and come back on another day.

The American Heritage dictionary defines adventure as: "An undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature" or "An undertaking of a questionable nature, especially one involving intervention in another's state of affairs." Which I also consider to be an accurate description when one sets out to discover adventures in prayer.

As mentioned before, one first finds themself on a particular "road" that is happily, and unhappily, populated with other travelers who are generally out for the same purpose. And while this road is not subject to time or place (in that it is instantly accessible from anywhere or any hour), it is a real road. More real, possibly, than all those others we travel on every day. I have pointed out that there are wonderful frequent travelers here who can be of great help to new or despondent ones, and the more often you travel there, the quicker you will get at recognizing them.

But there are other sorts here, too.

These are not so nice. They are enemies of your soul, really, determined to distract or waylay you from your true purpose here. They are not all monsters. No, if they were, there would be no problem identifying and avoiding them. Many are sweet and beguiling... offering pass times that are always quite acceptable and innocent on the surface of things.

But they are wicked underneath. And capable of such excellent disguise that they can often be hiding beneath the surface of your very own self. Those are the most dangerous kind. The ones who can convince you that there is something incredibly wrong (or unfixable) about you, yourself. Which automatically kicks you into survival mode, and you all but forget why you even came there.

That's why it is of the utmost importance that you make as sure of your travel arrangements for coming here as you would on any other vacation. You wouldn't head out without knowing your destination, would you? No, too many places to get lost in. Would you start without money, or other adequate provision? I should say not. And you would -- above all else -- steer clear of any known war zones where a person might become a casualty just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. These rules are just plain common sense. Still, it is amazing how many travelers pay no attention at all to them.

The most shocking discovery I have made during these spiritual traveling experiments is that this road is the most dangerous there is in all the world. But it is also the most exciting, the most modern, and the straightest path to any given destination on earth. It is not for the faint of heart, though. And it is not a good idea to go there naked (you'd be surprised how many think that's the very thing to do). Even though there are many good travel advisories posted all around if you look for them. The best is found in Ephesians 6. The whole chapter.

However, if you are the type that doesn't like wearing that sort of stuff, or discover you really have no desire to travel in areas of this kind in the first place, you really shouldn't worry about it. Just be careful to stay closer to home, maintain all your support systems, and not wander off alone by yourself. Because we are living in dangerous times, here, and need to be watching each other's backs.

Which is all I'm going to say about the subject, right now.

Tomorrow is my last public day for this experiment, and I intend to sum everything up and tell all. There might even be a door prize. At any rate, there will be refreshments. But now I'm off to do some work before this day is entirely gone...