GOD IS NOT A GENIE
She was ferocious and yet frail. When I told her that I was a Chaplain she took the opportunity to bombard me with accusations and questions. "What is the use of prayer if God is going to let those 29 miners die anyway? All those good people prayed around the clock for those miners, yet they died. What use is prayer?" She referred to the mining disaster on the news last night (30th November, 2010).
Julie, my wife, says that many people have the idea that God is a GENIE IN A BOTTLE, there to do THEIR bidding. Actually, it is only when I do HIS bidding, come under HIS authority, enter into relationship with Him, love and trust in Him that I find the perspective I need to be able to pray for the answers I need. And living a life of faith is not always easy, as Abraham discovered in Genesis 22.