{"id":1451,"date":"2012-11-16T15:10:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T21:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellevanloon.com\/?p=1451"},"modified":"2012-11-16T15:10:18","modified_gmt":"2012-11-16T21:10:18","slug":"praying-for-our-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pilgrimsroadtrip\/2012\/11\/praying-for-our-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying for our friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
It is a tradition to write one\u2019s prayer requests on a scrap of paper and tuck it between the stones of the Western Wall. I carried the prayer requests of the students in my Hebrew class with me, adding my own to the pile. Bill shot this picture just before we went through security at the Wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bill and I were supposed to be in Jerusalem this week for a Caspari <\/a>board meeting, but finances kept us here in the U.S. (He Skyped in to the meeting instead.)<\/p>\n

The headlines coming out of that region are stunning and sobering. The opining unending.<\/p>\n

The only thing I can do is pray. The words of my prayer feel like fragments, ephemeral mortar tucked with thousands of other last-ditch pleas between ancient stones. But standing in Jerusalem, it is easy to feel that the stones themselves, witnesses to all of history, will pray if we do not.<\/p>\n

The words below, penned perhaps 3,000 years ago not far from the place where I pushed those scraps into crevice, are my intercession today. Please add your scribbled prayer, pushed into the Wall, as you read.<\/p>\n

Psalm 46<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

1\u00a0<\/sup>God is our refuge and strength,
\nan ever-present help in trouble.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
\nand the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>though its waters roar and foam
\nand the mountains quake with their surging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

4\u00a0<\/sup>There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
\nthe holy place where the Most High dwells.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>God is within her, she will not fall;
\nGod will help her at break of day.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
\nhe lifts his voice, the earth melts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

7\u00a0<\/sup>The Lord Almighty is with us;
\nthe God of Jacob is our fortress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

8\u00a0<\/sup>Come and see what the Lord has done,
\nthe desolations he has brought on the earth.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>He makes wars cease
\nto the ends of the earth.
\nHe breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
\nhe burns the shields with fire.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>He says, \u201cBe still, and know that I am God;
\nI will be exalted among the nations,
\nI will be exalted in the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup>The Lord Almighty is with us;
\nthe God of Jacob is our fortress.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill and I were supposed to be in Jerusalem this week for a Caspari board meeting, but finances kept us here in the U.S. (He Skyped in to the meeting instead.) The headlines coming out of that region are stunning and sobering. The opining unending. The only thing I can do is pray. The words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1449,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPraying for our friends - Pilgrim's Road Trip<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bill and I were supposed to be in Jerusalem this week for a Caspari board meeting, but finances kept us here in the U.S. (He Skyped in to the meeting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pilgrimsroadtrip\/2012\/11\/praying-for-our-friends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Praying for our friends - 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