God Grant Us A Price Break?

When it comes to prayer, there are things that are God-worthy to be prayed for - like strength in a tough situation, faith when in doubt, wisdom in a confusing predicament, endurance for the long haul, even for more love when one is having a hard time loving. Characteristics that are essential to the spirit which will nurture a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit. Yes, rock on.

Then there are people like these who I feel are mis-using their time and prayers. They are praying for gas prices to drop. GA$ PRICES. Now, don't get me wrong, prayer in all things is fine, however, there is a line to be drawn when it comes to praying for material goods (and this is classified as such) - and publicly at that. God helps those who help themselves - these people need to address their lobbyists, their Congress and stop taking God for a pushover economist fool.

In this the richest nation on earth, the so-called-faithful are praying for money savings? Does this seem wrong to anyone else? What about the starving children, the hurricane, tornado, flood and earthquake victims and the modern-day holocausts occurring in the world? Is their world simply contained within the walls of these United States? The true injustices get overlooked to be prayed for so fervently so they can save 75 cents a gallon? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

It is like a child asking their parents to instantly grant them knowledge of the world's cultures as they stand in a room stacked full of National Geographics. Sometimes, people, you have to work to get your prayers answered.

Perhaps in a strange way, higher gas prices are God's way of saying "Hey, get off your obese American asses and walk to work, bike to work, use the limbs and instruments I have given you and get active." Or, it may be God's way of saying, "Hey, people, time to focus on alternative fuels. The world is suffering and polluted, this is a wakeup call for all of you to work together to come up with new and creative resources to keep the world greener. There is a reason for this jackup in prices! I had to get your attention somehow and since money is so important to you, this is my way of tapping you on the shoulder."

-------------------------------------------

Activists Keep the Faith, if Not Their Money

By Jonathan MummoloWashington Post Staff WriterSaturday, May 31, 2008; B05

The price of regular at a Shell gas station in Petworth gleamed defiantly in the midday sun: $3.91 a gallon. But unlike the customers rolling up to the station's pumps this week, resigned to the fact that their wallets were about to take a beating, Rocky Twyman and company had a plan to bring that number tumbling down. They would ask God to do it. "Our pockets are empty, but we're going to hold on to God!" Twyman, a community organizer from Rockville, said as he and seven other people formed a semicircle, held hands and sang, pleading for divine intervention to lower fuel prices. It was the latest demonstration by Twyman's movement, Pray at the Pump, which began in April. Since then, he has held group prayers at gas stations as far away as San Francisco, garnering international media attention and even claiming success in at least a couple of cases. Some would say the proof of whether Twyman has the ear of the Almighty is in the result. On the first day of the movement, April 23, the national average price of a gallon of unleaded was $3.53, according to AAA. As of yesterday, it was $3.96. But Twyman said true faith does not demand instant gratification, and he plans to keep his pump-side prayers going "until God tells us to stop." "This whole thing is a wake-up call from God to Americans, because we idolize men so much," said Twyman, 59, a public relations consultant and Seventh-day Adventist who believes that high gas prices are a sign of the apocalypse drawing nigh. "I think through this crisis, God is trying to call us back to depend on Him more." For the past several weeks, Twyman has assembled a group at a soup kitchen in the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest Washington where he volunteers. They have driven to a gas station, locked hands, said a prayer, purchased gas and sung the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome," with an added verse: "We'll have lower gas prices." Reactions, and results, have been mixed. After he gave an interview to a Tampa radio station, the station received calls from listeners saying the price at their pumps had dropped. (According to AAA's Fuel Price Finder, regular gas at Tampa area stations averaged $3.89 a gallon yesterday, up from $3.59 a month ago). Last week, as one of the demonstrations was winding down, an angry gas station manager in Petworth chased them from the property, Twyman said, annoyed that the activists were hampering business. On Thursday, onlookers included the puzzled, the amused, the inspired and the skeptical. Sylvester Shorter, 61, of Southeast Washington was pumping $20 worth of regular as the group sang. "They're praying," he said dismissively. "Do I still have to pay $20?" A public relations consultant, Twyman is experienced at garnering publicity and has staged campaigns over the years for various causes, from tsunami relief to bone marrow donations for minorities. In 2005, he began a movement to get Oprah Winfrey the Nobel Peace Prize. (She did not win.) Last year, he led prayers for rain in drought-afflicted Georgia. (Rain did eventually fall.) To some observers, the idea of praying in public for cheaper gas is "uniquely American." Johannes Wiebus, an independent producer who recently filmed one of Twyman's demonstrations for a German TV network, said: "You've got this issue -- high gas prices -- which is an economic issue, a political issue, but no one in their wildest dreams would make it a religious issue in Germany." But to some local drivers feeling the pinch, frustrated at the inability of politicians to solve the problem, the question isn't, "Why pray for cheap gas?" It's, "Why not?" "I think it's a wonderful thing," said Mirrine Thorne of Northwest Washington, who pulled in to gas up her Chevy Impala as Twyman's group prayed. Thorne, a mother of four, said gas prices have limited the activities she can do with her kids on the weekends. "Nobody else is doing anything," she said. "God is going to do something." After a few minutes of song and appeals to customers to join the movement, Twyman and his group began their departure, their hope and faith replenished. The price of regular? $3.91.