It was Sunday night church. I was probably fifteen years old. There were about five guys in the back pew and another six or seven girls in the pew in front of us.
We were no different than other youth - passing notes, whispering, and making fun of the names of hymns.
Then came prayer time. We always knelt to pray. Several people would lead out in prayer. It usually was about fifteen minutes long; unbearable for us!
Then Wilbert started praying. We loved it when Wilbert prayed. He was very animated and loud! Two of the kids in our pews belonged to him. He repeatedly used the term "O Lord", when he prayed.
All of us excitedly kept count of how many times he said it. It was the best part of Sunday night for us!
This night, he hit thirty and was still going strong. Then forty! We could hardly believe it - he'd only gotten this high a few times before. Would this be the night Wilbert would pray his way to fifty?
Forty-five, but we could tell he was winding down. Forty-six. Forty-seven. Forty-eight. The excitement and anticipation in the last two pews was higher than it had ever been before! We literally trembled with excitement!
Forty-nine! We could hardly believe it! Then as Wilbert closed his prayer, he stuck one more "O Lord" in - and every young person in the last two pews shouted and laughed with excitement and joy!
As we rose from prayer, all eyes were on the youth in the last two pews. I suppose everyone else, like me, got a stern talking to on the way home that night. But it didn't really matter! The high we'd experienced would never be reached again!
It was a prayer that truly blessed the youth group! Plus, it's one of the few Sunday night services that I actually remember!
I got to grow up with a Harvey - and no, not the invisible, 6-foot-tall, white Pooka version who appeared with Jimmy Stewart - but another far more visible, QUITE audible original. If you knew Harvey and were present at church when he got blessed, there is nothing more that I need to say. It can easily be said, however, that our church had its own cast of characters who were quite book-worthy in their own right or could have been ready for their close-up at any given time. Looking back, however, as years have passed, it's a shame and a little sad in a melancholy sort of way that I am no longer around these kinds of interesting characters with interesting names - like a Wilbert or a Harvey. Oh, there are a few here and there that you encounter every once in a while still, but it seems to me not as many exist. Well, maybe not here, but up there will be a slew of characters all together. Wow . . . if one was so engrossing, how will we handle millions and millions . . . all at the same time?! ~ Jen :-)
ReplyDeleteHow well I remember. Sad though that we don't seem to have
ReplyDeletesuch fervent prayer warriors around these days.