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“The Largest Study of Third-Party Remote Intercessory Prayer Suggests Prayer Not Effective in Reducing Complications Following Heart Surgery”
- John Templeton Foundation

Prayer Does Not Help Heart Bypass Patients
- LiveScience.com
Study fails to show healing power of prayer
- Reuters
Study: Praying won’t affect heart patients
- mercurynews.com

Many report that this study suggests prayer doesn’t help heart patients. But that’s not what the study was about.

“The researchers who tested the power of prayer emphasized that their $2.4 million study could not address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another’s behalf. The study could look only for effects from the specific prayers offered as part of the research, they said.”
- Malcolm Ritter

Written prayers were given to three Christian groups. Two Catholic, one Protestant. So… the study proves that prayers read by these specific monks for people they do not know are inaffective? So? This is newsworthy? No. This is silly.

“The researchers didn’t ask patients or their families and friends to alter any plans they had for prayer, saying such a step would have been unethical and impractical.”- LifeScience

There was no attempt to account for the prayers of a patient’s friends and family. The study didn’t record the effects of heartfelt prayer for a loved one. So the patients in the “no prayer group” could have very likely been prayed for by their families. And of course, the patients in the “being prayed for” could have had fewer friends praying for them… There’s no way to account for such things.

Dr. Harold G. Koenig said science “is not designed to study the supernatural.”

This whole story reminds me of a certain scripture: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” - Luke 4:12

“There are no scientific grounds to expect a result and there are no real theological grounds to expect a result either,” he said. “There is no god in either the Christian, Jewish or Moslem scriptures that can be constrained to the point that they can be predicted.” -Dr. Koenig

God is not a gumball machine. You can’t expect to put a quarter in and get out a prize or read the right prayer and get the desired response.

Update: Chaplain Lewis has something to say about the study.

“In other news, similar studies revealed that driving down the street in a fire truck and baptizing people with its water cannon also had no discernible effect on their lives. Passing out communion wafers in shopping malls also appeared to lack effectiveness.”

Job Hunt:
The unit Joel was supposed to go to Iraq with, left without him in January. He has no military orders past April 20th. That means going back to Springfield… to a job that no longer pays the bills. We have to pay off all this restaurant debt as quickly as possible. So Joel’s applying for jobs all over the country.

Remember the Microsoft slogan, “Where do you want to go today?” I think Joel has changed it to:

“Where do you want to live today?”
As he continues to search for government jobs online, my husband keeps turning to me and asking, “Do you want to live in Florida?” “How about New Jersey?” “Virginia?”

So far these locations are in the running:
The Pentagon Washington, DC.
Fort Lewis, Washington
Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey
[New York City! - Think of Pace Picante Sauce.]
Afghanistan
[No we won't move there with him...sheesh.]

I’ve pointed out multiple times that I’d really like to live somewhere in the middle of the country…

Hey I know, how about Springfield, Mo? Wouldn’t that be nice? It would definitely make going to school there in the fall a lot less complicated.

We’ve lived in Springfield almost eleven years. I’ve called it home longer than any other place.

I Do Not Want To Leave Yet.

Just give me four more years. Please? Just let me get my M.Div. Let me drink a little more coffee with my amazing friends.

We’re not seeing any good Springfield options.

It’s getting down to the last minute. Will a great job become available in Springfield just in time? Will we live in Springfield with a job that doesn’t pay nearly enough? Will we move thousands of miles away? Will Joel have to volunteer for deployment? Will the Reserves call him to Iraq?

Last Minute:
Fellow Christians like to encourage me by saying that God will do something at the last minute. That he likes to do that so we know it’s really him working in our life.

See, I don’t know about that. This is why:

My definition of the last minute must be entirely different than God’s.

The last minute was January 10th. That was the day the bank auctioned off all of our restaurant equipment for a ridiculously low amount of money. That was the last minute. Until the auction started, we could have sold the restaurant. We could have been saved from years of suffocating debt.

Everyone said God would take care of us at the last minute. Tick… Tick… Tick… the minute passed.

Here we are again… Another “Last Minute” ticks ever closer. Will God reach down moments before the second hand passes the Twelve? Or will I once again be singing the words of Casting Crown’s I’ll Praise You In This Storm?

“I was sure by now
That You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say “Amen”
and it’s still raining”

And after singing that first line… I’ll get over myself and sing the chorus:

“I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am“

[Note: Don't worry. I'm not freaking out or hiding under the desk. I'm just documenting my thoughts and the circumstances we're in. I know that God will work this for our good... I'm also completely aware of the fact that I don't always immediately like what he thinks is good for me.]

Orders:
Joel got his orders for another postal school. We’ll be at Fort Jackson for three more weeks.

Birthdays:
Jeremiah turns five on Saturday. He wants to have a party with kids… we don’t know any children in South Carolina. His grand scheme: Take a cake to the play ground and share it with any kids that show up.

My birthday is the following Saturday. We’re going to Charleston, SC. The kids and I have never seen the ocean, so we’re really excited. We’ve got tickets to a baseball game and a 50 dollar gift card for the Charleston Crab House. I probably couldn’t be more excited. Free seafood. Minor League Baseball. The Ocean… A great way to turn 29.

Kitty Cat:
Sarah still spends much of her day pretending to be a feline. She not only meows… she hisses. I told her all I want for my birthday is a whole day with my little girl and not a kitty cat. She agreed to that but says her hands will still be baby kitty cats.

Bible In 90 Days
How about The Old Testament In 90 Days? Since moving to this new room, I’ve had a hard time getting all of that Bible reading done each day. I’ll finish the OT on day 90. I think I’ll read the New Testament in 90 days too. I’d like to spend more time studying it, and I need time to read other books before my ministerial credentials test in May.

I kind of feel like I’ve failed. I really enjoyed getting the big picture by reading so much so quickly. I’ll have to try again sometime.

I’m loving Vince Guaraldi’s A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

Last night, Joel and I went to sleep before Jeremiah did. With quiet determination, our son declared that he would stay awake all night long. This morning I asked him if he stayed up all night. He said he had only been able to stay up half the night.

It’s 2 am. Jer’s still up. Again, he’s determined to stay awake. I asked him why. He says that someone has to stay up so they can wake up the rest of the family if there is a fire.

My five year old boy won’t sleep because he wants to warn us if there is any danger. He’s such a responsible little man.

Jeremiah worried, he thought our hotel room doesn’t have a smoke detector. I assured him that it does. He said he’s not good at hearing things when he’s sleeping. I said I’d carry him. He thinks he should sleep in my bed so it will be quicker.

Jeremiah has thought about this a lot. He gives me instructions about crawling on the floor, being careful about the stairs and leaving behind my laptop because it might slow me down.

Goodness he’s still talking about possible fire scenarios… I don’t know what started all of this. Thankfully he hasn’t noticed that this hotel room doesn’t have sprinklers like the last one did.

—

Morning Update:

Jeremiah was worried about fire because he saw a yellow spot over South Carolina on the Weather Channel. He thought this meant a fire causing storm was in the forecast. He must have mixed up a few recent events. [Grass fires by grandma's house and tornadoes near Springfield.]

After trying to convince him that the yellow on the map did not mean fire, I suggested that we should pray that God will keep us safe.

That’s when the questions started again:

“If God wants to keep us safe, why does He send dangerous storms?”
“There are good storms and bad storms, Mom. Good rain and bad rain. WHY does God put bad things in the world? Why DOES he do that?… Maybe he wants the flowers to grow… but why make the bad storms?”

“It rains on good people and bad people. Why doesn’t he just have the bad storms go to only the bad people? That’s what God should do.”

I didn’t sleep that night. The alarm was set for 4:30 a.m. I kept waking up, checking the clock and trying to fall asleep again. Finally at 4:28, I got out of bed. After showering, getting dressed, and making a pot of coffee I stepped out into the cold dark morning.

The Military Entrance Processing Station is across the street. A quick walk brought me to the front doors. Still locked. I was early. Early for a 5:30 a.m. appointment. Not bad. (more…)

Rich wrote an interesting post about Carlton D. Pearson and heresy. This paragraph about unorthodoxy is too good.

“But heresy really is more than simply holding an unorthodox view. I mean, after all, who doesn’t hold unorthodox views anymore? Unorthodox is the new black. We all want to be different, just like all our friends. Get any three people together, and the dope who disagrees with the other two is the heretic. And his report card probably reads: “Has strong leadership potential.” America was founded on unorthodoxy. It’s in our blood. It’s in our DNA. It’s why Americans love the image of the maverick, the Lone Ranger, the fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants fighter pilot. We worship iconoclasm.” - Carlton D. Pearson: The Charismatic Bishop of Heresy