Today I’m in the book of Matthew again… initially, I was reading about Peter stepping out of a boat to walk on water with Jesus (Mt. 14:28-33). Plenty of great material here to study, sort through, and meditate on, right? Well, my mind starts to get curious about how the disciples ended up in the boat in the first place… Pop back to verse 14 and see that this is where Jesus fed 5000+ people with five loaves of bread and two fish; plenty more great material to dig into, right? Two amazing events that brought Jesus great fame and still stir hearts and minds to this day… but that’s not where I get stuck. I then land right between the two stories, just after the fish fry and before the stormy boat ride:
Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. (Mt. 14:22-23)
In the middle of all the amazing-ness, Jesus sent everyone away, even his own guys, so that he could spend time with his father; several hours in prayer (since he didn’t head out for the water-walk until about 3:00 in the morning). I can’t remember the last time that I spent even a single hour in prayer… and the truth is that I know that I need to. I need to have time where I can get away from all of my own busy-ness and talk with my father… or all of my busy-ness will overwhelm me.
How is your prayer life?
Murphy24p 
Steve,
Great thought. Mainly because we have some mutual friends that are going through a lot this year, I’ve started to do something new and it’s really impacted me as well. I have been fasting from the radio. So any time I’m in the car, alone, I’ve been using that time to pray for others. It’s really helped me focus my prayer life, away from my needs and wants, and shifted it towards praying for others. I’ve never really been a “prayer warrior” but it seems that this is what God is calling me to do right now.
Keep up the great work.
Tim