Mary and I have known each other for over thirty-one years, twenty-eight of which we’ve been married. I’m sure that I know her better than anyone else in the world, but this week she showed me more.

Several weeks ago Mary was asked to join the prayer team for our YFCamp program that was going to take place at the end of July.  She knew our schedule, she knew how full nearly every week would be, but there was something about the opportunity that became impossible for her to refuse.  So last Saturday she joined several other staff members and volunteers and headed for Crooked Creek Camp in Frasier, Colorado.  I planned to join her mid-week, after a couple of hops across the country.  When I was reunited with her on Tuesday, she was different.

In the course of four days, Mary had poured her love and life into her assignment.  She had taken her role with Brenda Gretzinger very seriously.  They had lists written, cards organized and names memorized.  With all that in hand, they prayed.  But when they prayed, they really prayed.  They prayed for the broken lives that had intersected in the mountains of Colorado.  They prayed for young people who lived inside the rubble of shattered relationships.  They prayed for the drug addicted and the love sick.  They prayed for the skeptic and the tender hearted... for the self-deceived and the openly rebellious.  They prayed through tears and they prayed with passion.  Like I said, they really prayed.

I’ve known Mary Wolgemuth.  I know what she loves to do.  I know that she loves to hike mountains and ride a bike.  I know that she loves to laugh until she cries, and to talk until it’s late.  But now I know something else about her, something important.  I know that she loves to pray for the crushed and bruised. 

I am praying for them… ~ John 17:9

Just like Jesus.  For the sake of those that the Father has given us.  Not as an afterthought.  Not out of obligation.  But because, just like Jesus, we carry the burdened, the lost, the rebellious, the frightened, the abused, and the lonely to the place of hope, to the place of healing, to a place of connection and life.

And when we do, something happens… to all of us.

No other place, no other way, no other Savior.

Together… to Our Father we come.