Last week found me driving the backroads in Southern Illinois. Southern Illinois will never become famous for its scenery and the flatness of the land made me think of Mr. Philately�s line about Northern Iowa: �It�s miles and miles of miles and miles of miles and miles.� For a while I listened to the radio, mainly country music, my favorite travel music, and then I let my mind wander a bit. I found myself driving past cornfields and soybean fields, praying. And then I stopped.

I stopped because it was not the time for prayer. I know that some people would say that anytime is the time for prayer---but not for me. It�s not that I�m rigid about prayer. It�s that I try to be a safe driver. I found that I could not pray and watch the road properly. In other words, it was either time to pray or time to drive. It was not both. Some people would have assumed that God would protect a praying driver. My life has lead me to make no such assumptions. I have my job and my job right then was driving. If I could pray and drive, fine. But I couldn�t so the praying had to go.

Later, after I had visited my client and was ensconced at the Super 8 Motel, I thought about the idea that there could be a time that was not a time for praying. Ecclesiastes does note that there is a time for everything and some of its lists include the idea that there is a time to refrain from certain acts. Why not praying?

Besides, the prayers I had on the road were not prayers I would normally believe in. While I believe in seeking strength or guidance, I do not believe in asking for health or things to work out. It may be human to ask but it always seemed futile. If God considered the thing something that should work out and it was within the rules that govern God, it would work out. Otherwise, it wouldn�t. My vision of God does not include a department in which God weighs requests as if God had to be reminded what was going on or could not act on it.

Despite interrupting my prayers, I got home safely and Kat found something worthwhile to do with the rest of her summer. So, forget about cellphones and concentrate on the real dangers. My new rule is: don�t pray and drive.

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