How often do you say you will pray for
someone or something and then forget to actually do it? When I was in
elementary school, I was always afraid of leaving someone out of my prayers.
After rambling off a list of family members, friends, teachers and pets, I’d round every prayer off with, “and
bless everything else too, God! Amen.”
Well, for the next 40 days the United
Methodist Church is making a commitment to pray specifically for college
campuses and you should too.
Why?
Because every fall, more than 17 million American students head off to
college and university campuses (plus millions more worldwide) to become the
next generation of teachers, accountants, mothers, fathers, doctors, CEOs,
journalists and ministers. In college, they will grow and learn to make decisions that will
shape their lives and the world around them, and it should be our prayer that as
they make these decisions, learn these lessons and become these people that
they do so having been shaped by Christ.
The purpose of Pray40 is to call the
Church to pray for college students and to help college students learn to
pray.
The prayers have been written by
campus ministers, college students, bishops, authors, pastors and other
leaders, and collectively, they express a heart for God to inspire, challenge
and transform the lives of college campuses and individuals.
Here is today’s prayer from the
Rev. Tarah Trueblood, the executive director and campus pastor at the Wesley
House and Campus Center at University of California, Berkeley.
Ready, set, pray. Can you make the commitment to
pray for college students from August 23-October 1? And don’t worry, you can
sign up to get prayers by e-mails, texts or even via Twitter (@CollegeUnion).
See, you really have no excuse!