Today’s post was delayed by an early morning stomach ache, which I rushed to recover from due to a 10:40 a.m. flight to Durham, North Carolina.  The flight was then followed by an hour long commute to the Avila Retreat Center where I will engage fellow clergy persons on topics centered around leadership development. Having finally arrived has brought relief and I welcome the opportunity for stillness.

In the midst of it all, I was able to begin a new book, Becoming The Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer For Ordinary Radicals by Shane Clairborne and Jonathan Wilson- Hartgrove, that I picked up the last time that I was Duke Divinity School’s bookstore.   In the book’s beginning, the authors write: “When we pray to God asking, ‘Why don’t you do something? we hear a gentle whisper respond, ‘I did do something. I made you.’ Prayer is important.  Just as important is the call to become the answer to our prayers.”

I have accepted this as my calling.  I want my life to be the answer to the prayer for relief from prejudice and stereotypes.  I want my life to be the answer to the prayer for the practice of racism to cease. I want my life to be the answer to the prayer for acceptance a part from the social coloring of one’s skin.  I want to live my life in such a way that I am becoming the answer to the problem of race.  What prayer will your life answer?  What answer are you becoming?