3.20.2006

I forgot to say "Thank You"

As the moments of spring break ticked away, Ben and I decided to celebrate with some Texas Roadhouse. My friend Dan likes to remind me that this was my last college break - EVER. Thanks for that, Dan.

The wait time for a table was 35 minutes. Granted, this is pretty good for TR, but we were starving. I inquired if we could order food from the bar - and she responded positively, so we took the immediate seating.

So there we sat. I ordered a Dr. Pepper and an 18-ounce ribeye steak. Ben ordered a Cherry Coke and some chicken strips. It was delicious ... I mean, really, really good.

Fast forward about 7 hours - I was putting on my coat for a late night run to Walmart, when it hit me: I never said "Thank You". The steak was incredible, and I never even made once glance upward to thank God for the food.

Read this carefully. I'm not obsessing over the routine of prayer before meals -- I actually don't like the concept of a routine. I hate it when prayer becomes so rote (is that the right word?) that we do it "just because we always have", or "out of obligation", or "simply because". Don't pray because you feel like you have to. Prayer should be in tune with my life ... a moment-by-moment conversation with Jesus, who lives in me (and maybe you).

I'm striving to be in conversation with Jesus all day long, so that in my bedtime prayers I can simply say "Goodnight Jesus." Not a long, drawn-out bedtime prayer - just the punctuation mark on an ongoing conversation.

Some days I think I've got this down. Today, my conversation skills needed a little work. Take a look at Jesus' life - he always said "thanks" for the food before he ate it.

3 comments:

John Bussone said...

Would you say that you are moving closer to, "pray without ceasing?" Or at least you have tasted what Paul was talking about.

swishthedish said...

hey jake, its me, Ben, your new roomate. Hey, I just got a blog, so heres some shameless promotion, its swishthedish.blogspot.com

I'll be expecting a link to it on the side bar of your blog. Just kidding...but seriously though. Later dude

Ty Paluska said...

pray without ceasing buddy. i am on that same journey. trying to remember him always and talk to him always. it's funny sometimes when you just say thanks for this great food and the people with you look at you like they can't believe that was all you said. it makes me laugh sometimes...you're great jake. thanks for the good post!!!

Right now