Nothing Fails Like Prayer

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that read "Nothing Fails Like Prayer". The message was pasted to the back of a new, foreign, well-appointed sports car being driven by a 50-ish man who from what I could tell appeared very successful (car, haircut, clothes, etc. - we were stopped in traffic and I was behind him, then beside him).

I wondered what would have prompted him to display such a message on his car. Had he been faced with a crisis and God didn't come through? Did he lose a child to an illness? Was he a war vet who spent time under torture?

What I concluded (without support - mere speculation) was that he was a self-made man who didn't need to call out to a "higher being" and who was able to solve all of his problems and meet all of his needs by himself.

At this point I began to feel sorry for the man because being in the self-assured position of "the top of the food chain" with no one to go to for help put him in a precarious position. Once a person gets to the point of complete independence from the need for a higher power, they set themselves up for a fall. If not in this life, then as they cross over to the next.

I am glad that I have the need for, and the confidence in the One to whom I pray. There's great security there. There's hope, as well as fulfillment, knowing that if I am seeking from One greater than me, He is in turn ready to respond to my needs. That's pretty cool.

You know, maybe the guy in the sports car simply had a scratch on his bumper and all he could find to cover it was the bumper sticker in question. Who knows?