When I was in my late 20s and feeling invincible, I made an ill-advised decision to load myself up like a pack mule with luggage. As I recall, I decided not so much to carry my bags as to wear them slung across my body. That is when I felt and heard the crunch. Within a few days, I learned I had compromised my C-5 vertebra. While it was a painful and protracted recovery, I was confident that I had managed to maintain the illusion of my invincibility until congregation members started asking after my well-being. Eventually, one member totally blew my cover and let me know, in no uncertain terms, “You didn’t cover up anything. You’ve smelled like Icy-Hot since November.” I was chastened but unbowed! Unbowed, that is, until the words of another member let me know, in no uncertain terms, that God’s tender mercies are even for me. She was a woman with whom I had spirited theological disagreements and happened to be at the church’s reception desk one day when I hobbled into the office. She inquired about my injury and then added, “I have been praying for you.” I replied that I was deeply moved to hear that, to which she answered, “I always pray for you because you are my pastor, but now I pray specifically for your healing as well.” People of faith have varying viewpoints on prayer. Some believe that praying for others causes our own attitudes to change. Some believe that we change the world with our prayers. As Pope Francis famously said, “You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That is how prayer works.” However disciplined or undisciplined our prayer lives may be, we know that prayer is part of being a Christian. .... Thank you to this week's writer, Baron Mullis. Read the rest of the commentary at pres-outlook.org. | 
