Snidely Whiplash
So that last post was a little cryptic, and I apologize for that.
The truth is, my wife and I got in a car accident on Sunday, and I didn’t want to say anything about it until I found out more about a few things.
One of those things was figuring out what was causing the sharp backpain I now have. Fortunately, my doctor told me this morning that the pain is most likely just muscle strain caused by whiplash, and that it should go away in time. Plus she gave me muscle relaxants. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.
Anyhow, I’m taking a break because it hurts to sit in front of a computer for extended periods of time. And I figure that if I can only bear a certain number of hours in front of a computer each day, it might be best to get paid for those hours. Especially since we’ll be taking on some car loans sometime soon.
So that’s more of the story. We’re very blessed that it wasn’t worse (most importantly, my wife is fine), and we’re very blessed to have each other.
I appreciate the prayers and the emails. Feel free to add your thoughts regarding my questions about prayer in my previous post. And as I said, I’ll be back when it’s more comfortable for me to write again.
For now, I’m going to have me a little cyclobenzaprine and see if I can sleep a little more soundly than I did last night.
11 Ripples from “Snidely Whiplash”
Jim says:
October 11, 2005 at 7:11 am
Wow. Glad you’re in reasonably good shape. I was a little worried--funny that. We’ve never met, likely never will but I was concerned. And not just because you wouldn’t be posting much for a while (though that was part of it). I do so like seeing new titles in the Salmon’s place on my Google homepage.
Well… I’ll keep praying and maybe the collective prayers of your friends, both online and off, will bring some answer to your question from yesterday.
Kevin says:
October 11, 2005 at 11:11 am
Oh wow. I’m glad that you and Mrs. Salmon are okay.
Streak says:
October 11, 2005 at 5:11 pm
Just glad you guys are ok. I am really interested, btw, in the prayer question. Growing up, it seemed like some kind of a magic petition. Prayer chains and the like, where more was better.
I have always had great respect for the notion that praying for someone was demonstrating concern and compassion for others. Beyond that, I am really clueless. I always liked Andy Sipowitz’s saying on NYPD Blue: “I will have a good thought for you.”
Muser says:
October 12, 2005 at 1:10 pm
Firstly- so glad you and your wife are okay. I really hope your back starts feeling better soon.
Secondly- I have a hard time with prayer unless I’m praying for others, or praying for things that are “important”, and sometimes even then I have problems. Even prayers of gratitude get me tangled up in questions. For instance, I was talking with my grandma this weekend about what a good family we have. I said we were lucky. She corrected me, saying that she never uses the word luck, because she wants to give all the credit for the good things in her life to God. Hmmm. That sounds good, but...So I have to mess with my poor grandma’s mind instead of just letting it go. I ask her- what about all the people out there who love God but who have terrible, abusive families? If I say that God is in control and thank him for my family, then aren’t I implying that he did not give them one? If I thank God for saving me and my house from the hurricane and tornado, then I imply that he chose not to save others?
Anyhow.
Jim says:
October 12, 2005 at 6:11 pm
Two of Anne Lamott’s favorite prayers
“Help me, help me, help me.”
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
One of my favorite prayers:
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
I really do think that almost everything we need to know about prayer is contained in the act of praying.
Shanna says:
October 13, 2005 at 7:10 am
Jim, can you talk more about that last line “everything we need to know about prayer is contained in the act..”? I’m intrigued.
Brandon says:
October 13, 2005 at 9:10 am
Glad to hear you’re on the up and up. Keep popping those pain pills.
I’ll toss up a quick one for you two!
Jim says:
October 13, 2005 at 9:10 am
Shanna,
Almost everything we need to learn.
And maybe instead of we, I should have said “everything I need to learn...” but that looked a bit condescending. This is all personal opinion, so please don’t think I’m trying to be prescriptive or even instructive:
Prayer “works” best when it’s thought of more as a way of being in the world rather than a discipline or practice or even a habit. Prayer does take discipline and it can become habitual, but I don’t think that’s the point. Neither is the receiving of answers to our prayers. It’s a (as opposed to the) way of coming in contact with God. I do pray because I want stuff (lessening of pain for my dying friend Kay, a new job for me, speedy recovery for Zalm, etc...) but mostly I pray because I want God, and God has given us prayer as a way of “having” him (sorry for the masculine pronoun, the sentence sounded clunky using God throughout).
Not that I think everybody should pray a certain way, or pray at all for that matter. But if we’re unclear about the why’s and how’s of prayer, the best thing for us is probably to try doing it, even if it’s halting and uncomfortable and feels all wrong.
Shanna says:
October 13, 2005 at 3:10 pm
Jim, that’s amazingly insightful (not inciteful
It reminds me of something Bonhoeffer wrote in “The Cost of Discipleship” where he said that you can’t have faith without obedience, and you can’t have obedience without faith. I’ll have to think more about this.
Nicole says:
October 13, 2005 at 5:10 pm
Feel better, Zalm. Right now, my only thought on prayer is that I don’t do it often enough.
Caleb says:
October 13, 2005 at 7:11 pm
Get well soon! Best wishes.
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