PRAYING FOR A DEAD MAN

My wife and I were awaiting the arrival of our grandson at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Sebring when I retrieved a cell phone message from a former client.

“Dr. Bill, my Uncle Don isn’t doing well. He’s in Winter Haven Hospital. Would you please remember him in prayer?”

Well, of course I immediately began praying for Judy’s uncle, and during the course of the next couple of days I prayed for him every time he came to mind. In the meantime, our daughter experienced a long and contracted labor, but ultimately, as has been common since mankind’s advent upon the earth, her dear little son was born.

After Jean and I arrived home I dialed my friend’s number.

“Hello, this is Judy.”

To which I responded,

“Hi Judy. This is Dr. Bill. We’ve been out of town a couple of days. But I want you to know I got your message, and I’ve been praying for your Uncle Don.”

Judy seemed confused, and several seconds elapsed before she answered.

“Uh, Dr. Bill I don’t know how to tell you this, but my uncle is dead.”

Now it was my turn to be confused.

She continued.

“Uhmmm, I vaguely remember leaving you a message about my uncle

… a year ago.”

Judy’s message had been floating around in ‘the cloud’ for a full year, and I had only now been become aware of its existence.

As a result, I had been praying for a dead man!

(Apparently his name wasn’t Lazarus).


by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 45. Copyright pending

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