I guess I've always had an adventurous spirit. When I was 10 or 11, I had explored quite a bit of the city of Houston, Texas where I lived. I would be gone all day sometimes on my bicycle. Soon I was staying out all night. By the time I was 15 years old, I was already out hitch-hiking across the United States. I went up to Dallas, over into Louisiana, out to Denver, Colorado. I went to Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. I went up and down the coast of California more than once.

I was not a real Christian, even though I had been baptized, joining a Baptist church in Houston, when I was 10. I didn't actually attend church very often, and always felt uncomfortable whenever I did. I hated Sunday School classes, and I hated the regular church services even more.

But I did believe in God. And I had a mild curiosity about the Bible.

I remember reading through the book of Revelation (the last book in the New Testament), down in Tucson, Arizona, while on my way to the West Coast. I was spending the night there at the Salvation Army, and had some idle time while waiting to eat dinner. About all they had to read in the place was the Holy Bible. There were lots of Bibles everywhere. The book of Revelation was no easier for me to understand in those days than anything else in the Bible. But it sure made for some fascinating reading.

I was not a person of prayer, really. I was always out late at night, breaking the law in some way. There were nights that I spent running and hiding from police all night long. My crimes were usually foolish, childish things. I would break into buildings and offices. I would talk my buddies into helping me steal a car. We also stole lots of hubcaps, because we had a good market for them. And we were always doing some kind of drugs. Senseless, childish things that can ruin a life for good.

No, I was not a person of faith and prayer. But I did always pray before I would set out on the road, hitch-hiking. I was afraid, I guess, to just try and go it alone. I knew I was a sinner. I knew that I didn't deserve any favors or anything good from God. But I would pray anyway, asking God to watch over me. I owned very little in the world. Not many clothes. Not much of anything else. I did own a few poems and a science fiction story I had written when I was younger. So I would also pray that God would watch over those things while I was gone, so that no one would throw them away.

I remember praying, "Lord, I commit my life and my soul into Your hands for this whole trip. Please watch over me and keep me safe until I return. And I commit these things that I own into Your hands, and I pray that you'll keep them for me until I return." That was about it. Nothing really fancy or flowery.

I seldom took any money with me when I hit the road. I seldom had much to take. I sometimes took a small trumpet case with a change of clothing in it. I never worried about eating or shelter. Things seemed to always work out. I could always work for my food, if needed. Businesses always had a lot to sweep off, or other cleaning up to do. And I was not afraid to sleep outside, as I did on several occasions. God was gracious and kind, watching over me in all the miles I that roamed in those days.

It would be years before I finally turned my whole life over to the Lord Jesus. And it would be more years before I began to understand the importance of the prayers I had been praying as a young teen. God had listened to my prayers, seeing into my heart, and He had taken hold of my fragile life, more and more, with every prayer I prayed. In fact, with each prayer, committing myself to God's care, I was actually giving Him permission to work in my life, to take hold of and keep my very soul.

I didn't understand that when I was fifteen. But God did.

David the King also learned to pray similar prayers. At one point he wrote a psalm that says:
"Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me,
O LORD God of truth." (Psalm 30:5)

I still pray the same kinds of prayers, for myself and for many others. I pray before any trip -- even short drives across town. And I pray for the community I live in before I go to sleep at night. And I pray for various people I see during the day, or people I may encounter through business, or the internet, and so on. I pray for the people I see on TV, and for people I read about in various publications. I commit many things into God's care now, just as I had started doing in my youth.

We all need such prayers. We all benefit from having others commit us to God's care and keeping. The Lord is faithful to keep all that's committed to Him, just as Paul writes in his letter to Timothy: "...I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Timothy 1:12)

God keeps the things we commit to Him. God is not like men who will soon look for a reason to go back on what they've agreed to do. In fact, the Bible says, "God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind. Has he promised, and will he not do it? Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" (Numbers 23:19; and also see 1 Samuel 15:29)

It's good, then, to teach our children -- and our unsaved friends -- to pray to God, and to commit themselves into His care whenever they're worried about a situation or circumstance over which they know they have no control. God is listening. God often acts in such circumstances to powerfully reveal His own hand at work in response to prayer. And through such experiences people can learn to have a greater faith in God. Also, they often begin -- through such prayers -- a chain of events that can lead to their own salvation.

God loves people. He's alive and powerful, able to intervene in many different ways. Jesus spent His entire public ministry teaching people (through word and example) to pray in simple faith, and to commit all things to God. He clearly taught anyone who would listen to "have faith in God."

Why make the mistake, then, of trying to go it alone when you face the challenges and difficulties of life? Commit all things to God in prayer (Philippians 4:6 & 7). And do not fail those around you by neglecting to commit them and their needs also to the Lord in prayer. I know that I can always use your prayers.

Trust in God, and let us learn together to commit all things -- and all people -- into His wonderful care.

Jim


"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity." (1 Timothy 2:1,2)