Re: Praying for Rain

I came across this video from Focus on the Family a couple days ago. In it, FotF's Stuard Shepard wonders aloud several dozen times whether it would be wrong to pray for "abundant, torrential" rain during Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention later this month. (Obama will make his speech outdoors at Denver's Invesco Field.) To Focus on the Family's credit, they pulled the video after one day, but it's still easy to come by on YouTube.

My answer to Shepard's question: Yes, it would be wrong. The rain you'd be praying for could be put to much better use in drought-stricken nations of East Africa, where famine seems imminent. Praying for rain to disrupt Obama's speech is akin to a church using a box of donated toiletries to vandalize a rival church instead of giving them to a women's shelter or food bank.

But maybe this misstep by Focus on the Family presents an opportunity for Christians and others to take more seriously the plight of those who suffer from drought or a lack of clean water. Maybe this video is a reminder that we should pray for rain to bring relief to another part of the world.

And while I'm thinking about it, this is a great chance for me to lift up an organization called Dry Tears. Dry Tears fights dehydration in parts of the world where water is scarce by building wells. Five Atlanta-area teenagers started the organization after one learned that dehydration in some African nations was so severe that the children cried "dry tears." Learn more at Dry Tears.org.

Note: As of this writing, I have not donated anything to Dry Tears. So, as of this writing, I have not practiced what I am preaching.