Author's update: On September 7, 2008, we celebrated our grand re-opening. While we're still very much in process, the physical, programmatic, and staff changes marked by that date have reflected a more important spiritual shift, as well. Each week brings new evidence to support that new reality. Thanks be to God!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

It's easier to memorize "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding," than it is to even understand it. Maybe God wrote it that way intentionally. Perhaps the verse itself calls more for trust than for understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6 makes for great theology. In fact, were it at the heart of theology, I suspect that scores of theological "masterpieces" would never have been written. "We desire to live more by revelation than by reason," as many of my dearest friends would say, is a close cousin to Proverbs 3:5-6. But how do you switch the slogan into a standard of living?

If the Proverbs plaque is to come down off my wall and actually direct my steps, one of the first manifestations will be my prayer life.

On November 2, 2007 Proverbs pounced and bit me. I came to the ARC gathering praying for answers. I heard God answer my question the same way several times, but you know, I wanted to be sure , to make certain I fully understood what God was saying. So, I tried my own little fleece and went forward for prayer at the last possible hour of the gathering, intentionally choosing two guys I'd never met before. "If God has the same accent when He speaks through them , then I'll know for sure." Hmm. Was that the "reason" part of me trying to corner the "revelation" part again?

The ARC gathering resembled the labor pain chapter of my story. New life had begun 15 months earlier - a long gestation period. God said through one of His anonymous mouthpieces, "You came wondering if this is a season for rest. (I had in fact come hoping to last until the sabbatical I was planning.) Well, it isn't. This is a season for pressing on." I thought about getting out of that line and seeing if God was giving better answers on the other side of the room. But two weeks after the ARC gathering, the labor was over and new life visible. And as a result, the entire direction of my 17 year ministry at the same church has taken a radical new direction. We're replanting our church, trying to help 200 people see themselves not as a 20 year old congregation, but as the core group of a new church. True or false: "It's easier to start something new than redirect something in existence"? True. But not the path God picked for us.

In the immortal words of C.S. Lewis in describing the Lion of Judah, Aslan, "He isn't safe, but He is good." The path we're on isn't very safe, but we do have a trustworthy trailguide. And much to my delight, when I attended a week-long church planter's boot camp in January, I discovered that God had been leading us through a wonderfully thorough and practical Church Planter's Manual that I'd never seen before. Turns out we're in chapter three of a book that I didn't know existed.

Prayer is one of the most fascinating aspects of the Christian life. Prayer lives at the intersection of faith and works, an intersection we're exploring like kids on an Easter egg hunt right now. On the one hand, we know that we can do nothing to assist God in saving either us or the people He's calling us to reach; we're saved purely, wholly, and only by grace (see, for example, Ephesians 2:8-9). On the other hand, faith that doesn't do anything is no faith at all; the way we live shows where we place our faith (see, for example, James 2:14-26.) We're trusting in a future yet largely unveiled, while working with greater focus and intentionality than ever before. We're seeing God bring new people into our midst in ways that only God could accomplish, yet rejoicing in those "divine coincidences" because they directly answer prayers we chose to pray and steps we obediently took.

Our life of prayer pulls back the curtains on our core beliefs. If we truly "trust in the Lord with all our heart," and truly believe that "apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5)," then our prayer lives will reflect that belief. They will demonstrate that we're leaning more on Hisunderstanding than ours, and wanting to live more by revelation than reason. Prayer won't be the appetizer of the meeting we get through in order to get on with the meat, the planning and the riveting discussions. We'll truly offer up to God our plans and ideas as a living sacrifice, and expect that sometimes , God will actually have the gall to change them. Sometimes God will thank us for our suggestions, and then move us on to His agenda.

And if we truly believe that "He will make our paths straight," we'll understand that paths are for the purpose of moving. God answers our prayer by showing us what He'd have us do, either through His recorded Word which already answers many of our questions, or through His current Word which helps us discern the best from merely the good. In our current church-planting mindset, verses like "One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth," are front and center for us. What happens to the farmer who prays, "Please, God, plant that seed"? What happens if he prays that prayer fervently, persistently, with an unwavering faith despite any opposition? I'll tell you what happens - a farmer who prays for God to plant the seed will starve. God answers the prayer, but His answer is, "No thanks, that's your job."

It's easy to pray for the lost. It's harder to remember that Matthew 9:38 is followed immediately by Matthew 10:1. When we pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers, if our prayer is true and not just a religious duty, the Lord of the harvest will find a field to send us into. I wonder if we don't at times specifically pray for the lost who are far removed from us, either by geography or by flavor of sin, in order to avoid the ripe fields in the adjoining bedroom or visible from the front porch. We can easily take the Great Commission and mark it "Return to Sender."

I've decided that one of the reasons I find prayer challenging is that prayer has taken up permanent residence in that Proverbs neighborhood. It's inherently an act of trust that defies human understanding. Prayer is like that optical illusion that has two prongs at the base and three at the top. I find it way easy to ask questions of prayer that I can't answer without later qualifying my answer. Does prayer change things? Does prayer change God? Does prayer change us? Is God dependent on our prayer prior to acting in a given way? Does He choose to restrict His activity on the basis of our prayer? Is a greater volume of prayer likely to get more action? greater frequency? greater number of pray-ers? greater persistence? Is prayer "making our requests known to God," or God making His desires known to us? Does God know what we need without our asking? Is prayer supposed to be public? private? individual? corporate? Is it our job to discern God's will, or His job to communicate it to us?

Answer to all of the above? Yes. Prayer puzzles me. But I like seeing what God is doing right now.

Our prayer life reveals a lot about our theology. Like it or not, prayer is where the rubber hits the road. If we instruct and inform God in our prayers, we reveal a belief in a very small god. If most of our prayers are "on the fly" while running around, we reveal our relationship with God to be properly called, "acquaintance." Does "but I never knew you" ring a haunting bell? If prayers are something we check off a list (devotions for today? done,) we reveal a belief in a god who saves by works, not by grace. If we ask God about everything (should I put both shoes on today?), we limit God's ability to speak through common sense, the Bible, the community, etc. If we ask God about only the "big" things, we reveal a CEO god disinterested in his children. But when we come to God with eager anticipation, we show trust in a perfectly good trailblazing God longing to lead us into new adventures - most of which we won't understand completely.

Have you noticed that being a renewal-minded Lutheran makes for strange bedfellows? Nowhere do I find that to be more true than when it comes to the topic of prayer. The Protestant-work-ethic folks rightly appreciate the value of planning and structure. Who says that God can't speak to the pastor during the week when he's planning his sermon, rather than only in the heat of the moment? Spontaneity is no more or less spiritual than ritual. Both are gifts of the same God, and both have been perverted by the same enemy. And the prayer folks rightly appreciate the value of relying on the Spirit. If we never attempt anything that doesn't seem possible, do we even need God's help in running the church?

A renewal-minded Lutheran is as likely to run into people pinging off the Proverbs verse in one unhealthy direction as the other. "But we prayed about John. We all felt good about that choice. Checking references would have been a sign of mistrust." Or, "It makes no sense to dowhat you're proposing. We don't have the money, the training, the energy..."

Let's pray, expecting God to speak. Let's pray, expecting God to direct and re-direct our planning. Let's pray, expecting God to energize all that He guides us to do. Let's pray, accepting the fact that we won't get everything exactly right until we see Him face to face. Let's pray, knowing that there aren't any shortcuts to relationships, and if we want to learn the sound of His voice, conversing (both directions) with Him makes sense.

For reflection:

• Are you more likely to limit God to acting only in spontaneous, fresh, "exciting" ways, or to acting only in well-proven, understandable, expectant ways?
• What does your prayer life reveal about your view of God?
• What parts of your ministry right now are daunting enough that only God can pull them off?
• What parts of your ministry reflect "best practice" understandings?

Dave Drum is Lead Pastor for Community of Hope Lutheran Church in Tucson, AZ. He and his wife Valerie have children Michael (18), Amy (16), Daniel (13), and Emily (9). In addition to being in the ARC, Dave actively participates in LCMC and several local Christian associations.

"All who are thirsty--all who are weak--come to the fountain--dip your heart in the stream of life..." Most of us know this song. "Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away, in the waves of his mercy, as deep cries out to deep. Come, Lord Jesus, come..."

Isaiah 55 (NLT) begins with a question: "Is anyone thirsty?" God, through the mouth of his prophet Isaiah, is asking us a question. God Almighty is putting us in a position to reflect upon our own hearts and make a decision of whether or not we are, in fact, thirsty. He wants us to determine our level of thirst.

When our physical bodies are thirsty and we don't replenish our fluids, the process of dehydration is initiated. Beginning symptoms include things like dry skin, headaches, and muscle cramps. If ignored, it can turn into a source of dizziness, and we become weak and lethargic. More seriously, it can cause the onset of delirium, fainting, swelling of the tongue, and seizures. And in extreme cases, when we become so dehydrated that our body refuses to retain even the littlest bit of water we attempt to consume, dehydration can even result in death.

During the summer months, my family decided to take in a movie. As we settled in with our pop and popcorn, the previews started. A commercial for Sprite began to roll on the big screen. Images of people playing extreme sports flashed at us at a rate faster than our brains could take hold of. Thirst was made evident by the athletes' exaggerated sweat, and one could hear the "Ahhhhs" as they guzzled their pop. Then they were back to the games--splashing into a basketball court that turned into water when they hit the pavement. Cool effects! All this to say that at the end of this commercial, which had everyone's attention, the entire movie screen filled with the words, "Obey Your Thirst." The words hung on the screen for me long after they faded. Obey Your Thirst.

You see, God designed thirst along with everything else in our physical world. Thirst has a reason, and it is important for us to respond to this thirst--to obey our thirst! In his infinite, all-knowing wisdom, God designed our bodies to have the symptoms of dehydration so that we would do something about it. Re-hydrating ourselves is a response to dehydrating. Drinking is a response to being thirsty. I believe he is telling many of us to obey our thirst in this season.

After a dream about a frog layered in the mud, I embarked on a late-night wikipedia.com journey to see if this frog really existed. I came across this: In the desert of Southern Australia, there is a frog called Spencer's Burrowing Frog. This frog burrows down into the dirt and hibernates at a depth of about three feet during the drought season. While the dirt is still soft, he makes his way down by digging with his hind feet in a cyclone action and actually turns in circles as he moves backwards and goes deeper and deeper. Eventually, his body becomes cemented into the hard layers and waits for the rain. This frog hibernates there. Sacks of water between its muscles keep the frog alive. But, the frog is not awake, it is hibernating; sometimes up to several years. It is said that these frogs have such a keen sense of hearing that when the rains begin to fall, it can hear the drops on the hard cracked ground above them like we hear the drops on the roof of our house. It is aware that the water is coming. As the water seeps through the cracks and follows the path to the frog, it awakens and resurfaces to breed.

Have you ever noticed how often nature gives us a mirrored image of a spiritual truth? The natural reflects the spiritual. In the same way that we dehydrate physically and "hibernate" because of lack of water, we can also dehydrate spiritually. In the same way that we become hungry physically, we can become hungry spiritually. But when we are spiritually thirsty and hungry, the things that satisfy us are different.

Isaiah goes on to tell us in Chapter 55 that our spiritual needs are different than the things we spend money on and labor for to satisfy our desires. He says, "Listen, and I will tell you where to get food that is good for the soul!" Where do we get this good food? We read in verses 10-11a, " The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. " God parallels the rain and snow, the things that water the earth, with the Word. In the context of being saturated and softened by His Word, which makes us soft soil, the content of The Word produces good food for us to feast on.

Jesus himself tells us in John 7:37, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture said, (quoting Isaiah 12:3), "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." And we read in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." Just as we drink to hydrate physically, we are fed spiritually through Jesus Christ who is The Word.

How many of us are in a stage of spiritual dehydration? Are you dry--parched--scorched--near dying?

I believe God is taking many of us down a path of re-hydration during this season; a path where His living water can seep beyond our hard surfaces and awaken the things in us that have slumbered for a long, sometimes very long, time.

How thirsty are you? Will you choose to be obedient to your thirst? Are there hibernating parts of you that need to be saturated with His living water? Surround yourself with trusted friends and mentors who will process these things with you. Look for God's re-hydrating words in Scripture as you spend time with him, and give testimony to those around you of how he is moving in you life...

As the lyricist reminds us, "All who are thirsty, all you are weak, come to the fountain. Dip your heart in the stream of life." -and stay hydrated!

Sharon Franta is a member of the ARC through her home church, North Heights Lutheran in St. Paul, MN. She is currently in her second year at The Master's Institute Seminary and is serving as an intern with ARC pastor Eric Bluhm. She and her husband Scott have four children and live in Roseville, MN.

If you're frustrated because it seems your prayers often go unanswered, Six Prayers won't show you how to pray better, but it will show you how to discover the answers you may have overlooked, and how relationship matters more than the words.

Mark Herringshaw is an ARC Pastor, serving at North Heights Lutheran Church in St. Paul, MN. You can order a copy of his book from www.sixprayers.com . You can contact Mark for speaking opportunities at: mark@markherringshaw.com