God Hears Us

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

—Luke 11:1

After years of dreaming about it and months of talking about it, my brother, Todd, and our dear friend Joe officially decided to sail around the world, to leave their jobs and homes, to sell guitars and motorcycles and fancy bachelor TVs and take a once-in-a-lifetime trip. They bought a boat last June and worked on it all summer in the harbor in South Haven.

Early one morning, we stood on the dock while Todd and Joe silently stowed the last few items, did the last few chores. We drank coffee in the dark and took turns snuggling Henry in his footie pajamas. We stood in a circle and prayed for safety and wisdom and kind seas.

Our family rule is that we never pray for adventure, especially when it’s about a boat. On one family vacation twenty years ago, a guest asked for adventure as she prayed before breakfast, and then we sailed straight into a tropical depression, complete with swirling winds, lightning, and an unrelenting downpour. We never saw the sun again that trip, and now we never, ever pray for adventure.