THE Bill Mallonee/VOL Song Quote of the Week

You know how fickle my heart is,
prone to wander my Lord,
yeah we talk but it's at arms length,
always got one eye on the door

-- On to Bethlehem, from 'Cross the Big Pond EP

This bit of verse, unfortunately, describes my prayer life most of the time since about age 11 until now. Whether it's thinking about writing, getting out and playing a sport, playing with a kid, homework, doing something my wife asks, getting to work or doing it, or just falling asleep, come prayer time, you can bet I hear the siren call of something else, usually in the form of thoughts, begging my attention. So far in this life, I get about an D- for being a praying Christian, and I'm probably being generous. I've tried lots of little things to do better, and some big ones, but at this point, I think I'm resolving to go with John Ortberg's advice in The Life You've Always Wanted, and just plan out five minutes each day, same time each day -- make it holy time on holy ground where nothing else can interrupt me and while I'm awake enough to not have visions of darkness clouding my brain -- and take that time to pray to my Lord and my God.

I do sort have a continuous stream of prayer going on with God (not totally unlike Philipe Gastone, as played by Matthew Broderick in the movie Ladyhawke, for any of those who've seen it), but I'm speaking more of a root time in prayer (and maybe Bible Study) where you're seeking the Lord as opposed to just hanging with Him - although, I have to say, that's not half bad either.

Still, the Most High deserves more, and He deserves more from me. Hopefully, I can become a good servant in this area -- but I've wasted a lot of life to this point, and that's sort of the point of this lyric. The rest of the lyrics are great, too, if you read them. You'll probably get more out of studying them than just listening to my second-hand spiel. So, by all means, GO! Read them. Read them now. Thank me later.

Bill Mallonee