Always? Always!

What are three things that you ALWAYS do?  I recently asked that question of both my Life Group members and our praise team members at Vero Christian Church. I got a variety of pretty decent answers: breathe, eat, drink coffee, sleep, and others I won’t mention in this post.  But in his letter to the church at Colosse, Paul says he ALWAYS prays for “you” (his brothers and sisters in Christ) and that he ALWAYS gives thanks to God.  Remember, Paul is in a Roman prison when he wrote this letter.

So, this has me thinking (I know that IS a dangerous thing): what can I do to be better at ALWAYS praying for my brothers and sisters in Christ, and at giving thanks for God? Let me suggest one way to help n both of these goals.

Utilize descansos. In his book Devoted, Arron Chambers tells us what a descanso is:

The word descanso is Spanish for “to rest” and now also refers to a memorial, most often a cross, placed on the side of the road where a person died suddenly or was fatally injured away from home.

I use many different objects as descansos to help remind me to pray for specific people. For example:

• Coke Reward Points – those numbers on Coca Cola products, I take a picture of them and message them to my buddy Jeff Sagstetter (who is a big Coca Cola fan and collects the points). Jeff knows that every time I send those to him, I am praying for him right then.

• The flower sticker that Franchesca gave me in Colombia – it is in my glasses case, so every time I open that case, I am reminded to pray for her.

• My wedding band – yeah, I am constantly in prayer for Peggy, and she needs it…she did marry me, after all!

• A caricature drawn by a former youth group “kid” of mine – Greg Nunley is battling lymphoma.  He is a husband, father (of seven kids), and minister of the Gospel of Christ. Please join with me in prayer for Greg and his wife Stacy and their kids. Here’s the caricature to remind you to pray for the Nunely family:

This hangs on my office wall and reminds me to pray for Greg and his family. It also reminds me to pray for my spiritual mentor Don Boswell, who is the other guy depicted here!

The point is that we can take ordinary, everyday objects and attach a spiritual significance to them by using them to remind us to pray specifically for our brothers and sisters in Christ. As I pray for folks, I ALWAYS give thanks to God for them, and to Him for putting those people in my life.  I then praise God because He is the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The point is, that we can indeed ALWAYS be in prayer and ALWAYS give thanks.  What do you use to help you in this regard?  I am ALWAYS interested in learning more “tricks of the trade” when it comes to prayer and thanksgiving.  Comment below and we can continue the conversation.

Be God’s.