| Use your head and your heart |

So, I'm a fan of intelligent prayer. What I mean by this is that God has given us mental faculties and we should use them in our prayer. As communication with and worship of this God we serve, giving our all and our best is important. I guess I say this as a knee-jerk-reaction to some people I know who pray with a repeated emphasis on the name of Jesus. While I'm not opposed to praying in the name of Jesus - in fact it's exactly what I'm in favour of - the psalms and the Lord's prayer are good examples of praying with specifics in mind.

On the flip side, I do wonder what it would take for me to become so desperate and so overwhelmed that in my prayers to God, all I could offer up were the words "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus". Perhaps there is some merit to the desperation of these types of prayers - for they are not claiming anything save for the blood of the one who gave it all. However, I do feel that there is a culture in some circles that overdoes the use of the name, as though it's a refrain.

Perhaps the most shocking moment happened to me the other day when a coworker of mine was tired and instead of making a noise of exasperation, this person claimed the blood of Jesus. I'm no theologian, but I'm pretty sure the blood of Jesus was life saving, not energy restorative.

Anyway, I digress. So I'm a fan of intelligent prayers. So if you want to intelligently pray for me as I head to Czech in a week (for 10 days), here are a few items that I'm dealing with:

• still have two midterms and a paper to finish before I go
• my sermon that is to be delivered in Czech through a translator is only about 30% completed, and I really need to get it done asap so that my translator can familiarize himself with it
• I'm feeling overtired and worn out, and things are only going to get busier as the trip nears
• I'm not very good at packing, so pray that I'll somehow see the best way to fit everything I need in with my hockey equipment
• Pray that my eyes would see what God sees, and that my heart would break for what breaks His heart.

Thanks.

Be blessed.