Thought for The Day: A Red Envelope Filled with Good News

Dear Friends,

After spending five days with my son and his family in Savannah, I arrived home to discover a red envelope in my mail pile. It came from Nelson Searcy, who is the founder of  “Renegade Pastors,” a  network of some 80,000 pastors who, like me,  are all trying to learn how to become more effective at what we do.

I had recently ordered a couple of items from the ministry and in filing out my credit card information, I noted a question that caught my attention. “How can we pray for you,” it said. Now, not ever wanting to miss an opportunity to be  prayed for, I hurriedly typed in a prayer concern regarding Jean and my recent battles with cancer.

I have done something like this before, but quite honesty I wondered how many of those prayer requests remain just that-prayer requests. Does anyone ever take the time to read and pray over them or do they get relegated to that circular file at the foot of someone’s desk?

Much to my surprise, when I opened the envelope, I found the following note: “Dear Tom, We received your prayer request and wanted to let you know the team has been praying for you and Jean in our daily prayer meetings. We appreciate you both for all that you continue to do for the kingdom.” The letter was signed by Nelson Searcy, and seven of his assistants. No, not some preprinted, canned response, but a personal handwritten note from the pen of a subscriber directed to a brother they neither new nor had ever met.

This all got me to thinking about the times I have told someone I was going to pray for them. Yes, at the time I was serious but unfortunately after a few days that commitment can easily be forgotten. Serious at the time about my willingness to pray, the  “will do” becomes an all too distant memory.

The next time you say you will pray for someone, write down that commitment, add it to your prayer list and then pray and pray and pray. And yes, don’t forget the follow up. Give the person a call after a period and see how they are doing, or drop them a note of encouragement as I received, reminding me that somewhere down in  Boca Raton, Florida, there is a team of prayer warriors who are putting shoe leather to their prayers for Jean and me.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom