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Pray For Me

The July 15th edition of the San Francisco Chronicle carried a Rob Stein article entitled "Stranger's prayers don't help the sick, study finds"

The article reports that a double blind scientific study concluded that people who pray for themselves do better than those who don't, but that prayers by people of various religions for people that they don't personally know don't help at all.

I hope G-d wasn't reading that article. I would hate for him to find out that all of his work is for naught. What a downer that would be! Answering prayers day in and day out only to find out that the scientists and statisticians on earth have deemed your efforts ineffectual.

I pray for strangers all of the time. I believe that it helps them. I know that it helps me. I feel that since G-d says that we have the right of supplication that he must be listening. I know too that every prayer is answered. It's just that some times - many times - the answer is "No."

I like that I can ask the Creator for specific intervention and that he is considering the request. Even if the answer is no, I know that he's hearing me, listening, considering and answering.

So if I become sick again, and you hear about it - even if you don't know me - go ahead and chip in a prayer or two. I could use the help.