Lucky Man (Evening Prayer)

Sometimes I find my inspiration for prayers in the songs I hear. My prayer tonight comes from the words of a popular "country music" song "Lucky Man" made popular by Montgomery Gentry. I have slightly altered the words to make it more personal.

I have days where I hate my job
This little town and the whole world too
And last Saturday when the Sooners lost
Lord, it put me in a bad mood

I have moments when I curse the rain
Then complain when the sun's too hot
I look around at what everyone has
And I forget about all I've got

Got some friends who would be here fast
I could call 'em any time of day
Got a brother who's got my back
Got a mama who I swears a "saint"

Yea I know I'm a lucky man
God's given me a pretty fair hand
Got a house and a piece of land
A few dollars in a coffee can

My Yukon's still running good
My ticker's ticking like they say it should
I got supper in the oven, a good woman's loving
And one more day to be my little kids' dad
Lord, knows I'm a lucky man

Beard Trimming

"No Shave November" has come and gone. This trend during the month of November appears to be growing (pardon the pun) in popularity. The purpose of not shaving (or in my case not trimming) of the facial hair varies from person to person. Some do it for personal reasons, while others are attempting to raise awareness of some good cause.

For me I made a vow to God that I would not trim my beard for the entire month. During this time my desire was to increase my own awareness of the need to pray for people who are fighting diseases such as cancer. I wish I could say that the experience was an incredible success, but alas my truthfulness gets the best of me again.

The truth is after about a week into November, I had fallen back to business as usual. Yet, it was not without its moments. in the last week people have began commenting on my beard. Everytime I was offered the chance to share with them why I was letting it grow. This reminder served me well also.

And so a few moments ago the beard trimmer came out of its cave, and much of my hair has been removed. My prayer is that one day soon, cancer will be able to be removed with such ease.