A friend recently shared a personal need with me. His concern was on my mind as I sat in a big-city, box-store parking lot waiting while my wife was shopping. “Why don’t I just pray for my friend as I wait,” I asked myself. A parking lot prayer, one might say.
But I thought, what if my wife comes out in the middle of my prayer and I do not see her? Also, it is a bit distracting with all these cars and people around. What if a more visible parking spot suddenly becomes available? Should I even be praying in a parking lot? I don’t recall any mention in the Bible about praying in such a place.
Growing up in a churchgoing family, I participated in prayer, as did my brothers and sister. My participation involved listening to the prayers and reciting the appropriate mealtime and bedtime prayers.
My brothers’ and sister’s memories are much the same as mine, some recalling the memorized prayers. Possibly those prayers were more impactful than I had thought. Back then, any serious praying was by the preacher and usually at church.
After becoming a believing Christian, I remember being surprised when taking part in a small group Bible study when the person next to me started praying…and he was not the Pastor! I remember thinking, “what have I gotten myself into?”
Sometimes Mom or Dad said the prayer. To me it seems praying, and saying a prayer are two different things, but that’s probably just me, and a discussion topic for another time.
I was in Sunday School every Sunday and have the Perfect Attendance medals to prove it. Our teachers were always older ladies. I am sure they prayed with us and for us, but I do not specifically remember it.
So, what about praying in a parking lot?
I assumed it would be OK as I know the Bible says we are to pray “without ceasing” and surely God knows how much time I spend in these parking lots! It would be an excellent use of the time.
I decided to check that source of all knowledge The Google to see what it said about where and when one should pray. I was surprised to discover The Google, in this increasingly “woke,” and secular world, can be a useful source for spiritual information. Let me share with you some of what The Google says about prayer.
I quote:
“There is no wrong time or place to pray.
God hears your prayers no matter when or where you’re praying. Just look at the Bible. People pray in houses, in closets, on mountaintops, in deserts, late at night, early in the morning, before meals, and after battles. So maybe it doesn’t really matter where your body is during prayer and at what time you pray.”
The Google goes on to suggest times to pray might include:
• “When you wake up: Some say that morning is a good time to pray because it can change how you experience the day.
- Before meals: You can pray before eating.
- Before bed: You can pray before going to sleep and reflect on the day.
- When you need help: You can pray when you are facing temptation, persecution, or hardship.
- When you are thankful: You can pray when you have something to be thankful for.
- When you need to repent: You can pray when you need to repent.”
Did you notice those words, “Just look at the Bible?”
So, I decided while a parking lot is not actually mentioned and maybe not ideal, it is probably OK.
I also noticed another interesting thing, and maybe you did as well, it suggests praying “after battles.” Now I’m just an old country boy, but I’m thinkin’ I’m going to be praying BEFORE my battles.
I do know it is OK to pray in a parking lot. It was, however, a bit concerning how many objections my worldly mind instantly came up with for not praying for my friend…in the parking lot.
The Google list of when and where to pray is an excellent start. The place really is immaterial. I have prayed in many places over the years; sometimes in some dicey situations.
There were many prayers for direction for our small business, there have been and continues to be many prayers for our family, there have been prayers of thanksgiving for a beautiful place or situation in which I have found myself, and of course there have been many prayers in situations of helpless concern. Prayers, when it seemed like there was nothing else to do.
I am aware that one should pray first and not last. But my worldly mind is inclined to try and fix things first. Not always the best plan. Pray first, then you do not have as much fixing’ to do.
Interestingly, there are places in our world that are tailor-made for praying. The Celtic Christians of Scotland and Ireland had localities they called “thin places” where they felt closer to God. Having been to a few Celtic “thin places,” I agree with my Celtic brothers and sisters.
I knew the Isle of Iona off Scotlands’s west coast was a “thin place” even before I took the CALMAC ferry from Oban to go there. I knew of the Irish Christians who, in the sixth century, climbed into their bullhide boats and brought the gospel to dangerous shores inhabited by dangerous people.
The peacefulness of Iona somehow becomes an almost physical thing that can be touched. To the people of those days, the waters surrounding them pictured danger despite providing transportation and being a source of food.
The solid and stable land was a picture of safety. I could feel Iona’s thinness. Iona, an island of sanctuary, surrounded by dangerous waters, is very appropriately a “thin place.”
Balquhidder is not an island in a perilous sea. It has ancient moss-covered stone walls, the vibrant green grass-covered churchyard with its large, leaning gravestones, their weather-beaten inscriptions telling stories of community and family (Rob Roy is supposedly buried there). And almost unnoticed, a wee burn (brook) gurgles along next to the path as its waters make their way toward Loch Voil.
I was not aware this was a “thin place” until I saw the sign saying, “Celtic Christians considered this a thin place.” But I had already felt it!
And there was a time when my wife and I were youth sponsors at the church we attended. We loaded up nearly twenty teenagers along with our provisions in an old church bus. We headed west for the mountains of Colorado and a week of “camping.” (What were we thinking?)
We found ourselves in the mountains on a Sunday and decided to have a worship service in the wildflower garden area part way up to Apishapa Pass.
The kids planned the service, the singing, the scripture reading, even the message. We sat there, the mountain grasses our pew, looking at the mountains, one behind another, gradually fading into the horizon. God’s very creation had become our sanctuary; a “thin place” for sure.
There was a time I was home on leave from the Navy, and I discovered my Mom was a good and effective prayer. Mom and I were driving somewhere, and she asked if anything had happened to me at a very specific time. I thought it was puzzling she had been so specific about the time, and I asked why.
She said she had been awakened during the night and felt a need to pray for me.
As I thought back, I realized she was asking about a time when there had been a severe storm at the small communications station on a mountain in Iceland, near the Arctic Circle where I was stationed. The storm had lasted several days, and we had been effectively cut off from the rest of the world. Even our communications links were down.
I wondered later if Mom’s praying had protected our little station during that fierce storm. I wondered if she was the only one who had been awakened to pray, or were other Moms praying as well. I was not a believing Christian at the time. This helped me understand that there could be something to this prayer thing. My Mom had moved me a bit closer to believing.
Dan Jones’ in Henry V, gives us a glimpse of a young King Henry’s spiritual life. As a teenager at the Battle of Shrewsbury, then Prince Henry was struck in the head by an arrow. The arrow’s steel head embedded in his skull. As Dan continues, the arrowhead is surgically removed; no small feat in the year 1403.
Henry, in Dan’s words, “contemplates the the mysteries of a merciful God who has once more spared him from death and decides that once he is well enough, he will do something serious to show his thanks.” The Prince makes a tour of various ancient religious sites around England.
Prince Henry (not yet Henry V) learns valuable lessons on leading and dealing with his subjects. Quoting Dan again on Prince Henry, “…more than anything else, he is developing a sense that nothing in the field of war is possible without un-wavering faith in the will of the almighty.”
In April of 1413, a twenty-five-year-old Henry was crowned King Henry V. He takes his role seriously. Dan continues; “On both the night that his father died and the evening before his coronation, Henry spent time praying with and confessing his sins to a hermit of Westminster, called William Alnwick. Now that he is king, he will seldom be seen without an entourage of priests, preachers, and professional praying men as well as Carmelite friars employed to take further regular confessions.”
So, England’s King Henry took praying very seriously.
I should as well.
Back in the parking lot, I ignored those instant objections from my worldly self and prayed for my friend…outside Kohl’s, distractions, and all.
So be in prayer…even in the parking lot… and watch out for those arrows.