NBC, teach us to pray

The premier episode of the new television drama, "Friday Night Lights" is worth an investment of your time, if you don't mind football as a metaphor for life. That first Friday night of the season, after a tragic accident on the field, the two teams play out the final minutes of the game in a suspenseful, urgent kind of way. Then they kneel in the middle of the field to pray. We hear a student ask God to heal the fallen team mate, Street.

"Right now its not really about who wins or loses, Father. We just all want to be with Street right now, God. We know that you work in mysterious ways and we just wanna send our spirit, our presence, our love, just to heal him in whatever way Lord. Whatever might be broken, just fix it right now Father. Jesus in your name we pray, Amen."

It was so real, I was drawn into the moment's emotion. The tears on my cheeks agreed. I used to pray like that, with faith in a miracle-working God to heal--to fix--whatever might be broken right now.

Then we hear the coach's thoughts as he prays silently. It is a more mature prayer. One that recognizes that instant restoration of a previous circumstance rarely happens, but that restoration can happen once we have taken ownership of our fallen state. My tears continue as the coach prays:

"Give all of us gathered here tonight the strength to remember that life is so very fragile. We're all vulnerable, and we will all, at some point in our lives, fall. We will all fall. We must carry this in our hearts: that what we have is special, that it can be taken from us; and that when it is taken from us, we will be tested. We will be tested to our very souls. We will all now be tested. It is this time, it is this pain, that allows us to look inside ourselves."

Prayer is a gift that belongs to everyone with the presence of mind to exercise it. We may pray differently from each other. We may pray from paradoxical paradigms. But I am sure of this. If God's will is something you want, prayer is the road to take you there.