I Pray For You

“Good Morning!” said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit.

I put the book down and stared out the back window of my families’ rented GMC travel bus. As my family of 11 (yes, you read that correctly) traveled down the road touring the “out west”, I wove in and out of the reality and fantasy. You see, as we rode, I was transported into the world The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, inspired. Then my eyes would shift back to reality as I gazed out the window at the fading horizon and the road peeling away behind us. I saw the story of The Hobbit and I saw the winding road.
Feeling surreal, it dawned on me (nearly 49 years ago now) just how big the world was and that someday I was going to meet new people and have adventures myself, (perhaps those similar to Bilbo Baggins). Ha, not really. But what startled me then was the realization that these “yet-unmet-folks” represented an adventure of sorts, as they were either alive currently or were soon to be born, and my life would someday interface with theirs. What made me feel a little spooked was the idea that I could think of them in advance and pray for them and for the lives they were living up to the exact day we would eventually meet. The largeness of this idea, (that I could connect into my future by breathing prayers into it back then) made me feel kind of weird to be honest. But, now, in 2025 as I type, I like having that idea way back when I was in la-la-land all wrapped up in a book while our family bus’s tires whirred underneath on Interstate 80.
We may have already met, or will soon meet, but we are already connected through the murmured prayer of a kid nearly 49 years ago; me.
Trippy, eh?
Every so often I remember that epiphany and I reiterate it and reinforce my blessing prayers for all the folks my life will someday meet.
Fast forward to July, 2025 and I’m “thinking ahead” again and praying for you and for those I’ve yet to meet. If I say I’ve Prayed for You…(well then, now you know the rest of the story. Paul Harvey, Good day. Remember him?))
The future (the Long And Winding Road) will unfold, but where it will lead is not always on a map. So, my home church, Christ Episcopal in Ponte Vedra, Florida is preparing with all their hearts. Will you please join Rachel and Friends and pray for us? We are gathering ourselves and settling the set list, and have much to prepare for this wonderful concert. We hope friends we know and those we’ve yet to meet will come from near or far and join us as we share an ENCORE OF LOVE, A Benefit Concert for Episcopal Relief and Development. Our preparations for A Long-Haul Love Concert hope to deliver your generous charity and care to the victims of what storms may come.

And, now, I leave you with a quote from Gandalf The White.

“Courage will now be your best defense against the storm that is at hand-—that and such hope as I bring.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King