“Is Mark Roth here tonight?”

The moderator of our evening church service this past Sunday scanned the audience.

He couldn’t see me. I didn’t help him. I sat still, blending in as well as any bald guy could. I was very tired after chairing a long Board meeting that ended shortly before the service began.

He still didn’t see me. I still didn’t help him.

But my wife raised her hand and pointed at me. 😯

The moderator (a former student of mine, I might append) called me up front with instructions to talk about nonresistance.

Impromptu. Spur of the moment. No advance warning. No notes. No thinking time.

I walked up front slowly, giving myself some extra moments to think.

They should have been moments to pray. But asking God for help didn’t even cross my mind! 😳

How could that be?! Especially since I’d just been praying for the brother who had been called up front first. (I think he had a more difficult topic than I for spur-of-the-moment talking in front of a big audience.)

Had I thought to pray, God could have helped me.

But I didn’t think to pray. 🙁

I was so intent on giving a right answer that I didn’t think to ask God to help me know what to say!

God helped me anyway. He’s that way. I bless Him and thank Him for that.

Ask God for help — that’s one lesson for me from my Sunday night experience.

Another lesson is to consider what I believe and what the Bible has to say about it so I can give impromptu studied words in due season. It’s hard to be that disciplined, though.

“The prayer of the upright is His delight.”