Echo

EchoPrayer

So, I don't know about my other Christian brothers and sisters, but speaking for myself I know that my prayer life often slacks. Sometimes it slacks for long periods. Sometime it slacks for such long periods so as to become, for all intents and purposes, non-existant. Now, I'm not talking about blessing the food around the table or mumbling something incoherent as your head hits the pillow and finishing it with "amen," I'm talking about diligently praying for the things we say we're going to pray for.

Even in the times when my prayer-life has been at it's strongest, (usually periods of intense emotional/physical struggle or life transitions), it is still, at best, unbalanced, (me, me, me, oh yeah, and George's thing too I guess), or just all around poorly organized.
"Nathan, have you been praying for 'X'?"
"Uhhh, (frantically search my memory until I realize that I haven't thought about it since so-and-so first brought it up), no. No I haven't. Sorry."

I've seen friends, usually girls, use these cutesy prayer journals to write down all of the prayer requests they can think of. This is their reminder and it allows them to journal on how their prayers have been answered, which is cool. I've often told myself that I'm going to start one of these, but I never have. Firstly, because I forget to go to the store and buy one to get started, but also because I can't imagine remembering to take it with me everywhere, or caring enough to open it and work on it like a bookkeeper for a small business. It would be super unorganized and end up in a box full of failed attempts at pen and paper journaling, which is already about to burst at the seams in my attic.

With online journaling, however, I have been immensely successful. If only there was an online service which allowed me to make a list of prayer concerns, organize them by date written, flag them as answered when appropriate, journal on them or on my prayer-life in general, and, (most importantly), send me random or scheduled reminders via email or text message so that I'd have no excuse for not praying. That would be just the ticket!

If you even partially agree, then you should check out Echo, (www.echoprayer.com). It's a web-based tool that does all of the above and probably even more. Best of all, it's free and you don't have to install anything - just set up a private account and you can access your prayer list from any device with the internet and a web browser.

I just discovered it today and in no time I had over 20 specific prayer concerns that I put on my list and set reminders for. It's cool for getting your prayer life in order, but a neat side-effect is that in detailing the specifics of my prayer concerns, I have had my eyes re-opened to a lot of ways I can be be more participatory in people's lives. For instance, if I write out "Johnny's Temper Problem" and put something like, "Pray that I would have the opportunity to have meaningful conversation with Johnny on the topic," suddenly, I am reminded of the fact that I can make a difference in his life if I pray about it and take advantage of our time together. Just an example, but that has been my experience.

Nothing works, however, if you ignore it and I'm sure this is the case if you ignore the reminders sent to you, but hopefully I will have discipline enough to stick with it. This is no excuse for being lax in keeping your thoughts heavenward on your own, but if you stink at it, maybe it will help start the habit.