Prayer is not a stand-alone. Like love, "pray" is a verb. An action word. Prayer is the prelude to doing something. Prayer, well-conceived, leads us to go on God's errands. In God's economy, prayer is the means to an end. And we don't always know the end. Our good friend Janet Lui was shopping on a very hot afternoon on Market Street in San Francisco recently. She had just a couple of things yet to pick up at Macy's, but as she approached the store she noticed a homeless man

I once saw God, As through a window in my soul I peered. He was just as I suspected, Just as I feared. So selfish and cruel He appeared to be; So very ugly, So unlike me. Then looked I deeper, Still deeper with time; T’was a mirror all along, And the image was mine. I now see God, As to His Son I gaze; So beautiful with goodness are all of His ways. As I continue to look deeper; Still deeper with time, His character of love Finds a mirror in mine.