The Prayer Garden

Many philosophers have come up with proofs of the existence of God. Anselm, Occam and Aquinas are all known for their proofs of the existence of God. Some proofs, although not philosophically sublime, are quite effective. One of them is the proof set forth below.

It was the summer after my eighteenth birthday. I had flown from my home in New Orleans to North Carolina where I had a job in Big Baptist Assembly. Along with a group of young people from all over the country I spent the summer working in this assembly. Visitors came and stayed for a week or two, got a spiritual "fill up" through conferences and sermons and returned home.

One week I made the acquaintance of an attractive young lady visitor. Curfew was at 10:00 P.M. The night's religious service began at 7:30. After the service, this young lady and I were going to visit the prayer garden, and I must tell you we did not plan on much prayer-which is not too surprising for fairly normal 18 year olds.

The service went on a little long. It started to wind up sometime around 8:40 P.M. The time came for the invitation, and the song chosen was the good old stand by "Have Thine Own Way." Well, I guess that seemed like an appropriate enough title, and so as we entered into the invitation period, my mind was already heading for the prayer garden. My hope was three or four stanzas and then the service was through.

That is when it happened. The Proof began to manifest itself. We sang stanza after stanza of "Have Thine Own Way." After we had been through all four or five stanzas of this song, I realized that something very disturbing was beginning to occur. I began to count the stanzas and watch my watch (which I had been watching all evening.)

We would go on for a while, and the speaker would say something like this ; "If no one comes forward during the next four stanzas we will go home." We would sing four or five stanzas and finally on the last stanza, some one would come forward for rededication and off we would go again. This happened innumerable times.

So where is the proof of God? The answer is that I never made it to the prayer (or was it preyer) garden. We went through 143 (yes, it is true I counted them) 143 stanzas of "Have Thine Own Way" and got out at 9:55-just five minutes before my curfew. Now I challenge you, what is the most stanzas of "Have Thine Own Way" that you have stood and/or sat through. I guarantee you that after 143 stanzas you won't still be standing.

God had evidently made a statement--that is, that prayer garden was NOT going to be used for any unholy purposes. Period. That's it. Amen!

You know, sometimes God watches over his own. His own people and his own property, and I am here to tell you that prayer garden must have been His Own Property.

As for me, I am not sure that I ever quite heard that song the same way after that. And there are not many times when I hear it today, that I do not think of that time long ago in North Carolina, and an 18 year old wondering how many stanzas could be sung of Have Thine Own Way. Well God did, and I did not.

HarleyDad signing off and wishing he had his Harley in North Carolina when he was 18.