An MP3 Audio Clip of this prayer is located at http://www.favoritereadings.com/aprayerforgovernorjoncorzine.mp3  It is free and in the Public Domain.

Dear LORD, we come to You in prayer today
To ask that You will choose to use Your power
To aid a person who is badly hurt.

His name is Jon Corzine.

We pray that You will go to Jon Corzine,
And make his body whole again, and sound.
We pray that You will take away his pain,
And let him have the needed healing sleep.
We pray that You will mend his broken bones,
And heal the flesh that has been badly harmed.
We pray that You will guide the minds and hands
Of all those who are working on his case.
We pray You will give comfort and relief
To all his loved ones who are so concerned.

(Optional: for Christians - In Jesus' holy name we pray . . . )

Amen.

This prayer for Jon Corzine brings up an interesting question: How should we choose the people we pray for? We know that thousands, perhaps millions, of people become sick or injured every day. We cannot pray for all of them individually. So how do we choose? Why should we sometimes pray for famous people in the news, and not for the vast multitude of unknowns who also need our prayers? What should we do?

The reality is, there is an infinite need for prayer, just as there is an infinite need for other kinds of assistance to people. But our resources are finite and limited. Whatever time or other resources we give to one recipient, we cannot give to others, perhaps more worthy or more deserving of our help.

Here is the way I decide, and I am suggesting this way for you.

First, whenever you have a generous or loving impulse to help someone -- by prayer or otherwise -- follow that impulse unless you have a very, very, good reason not to follow it. Loving impulses to help come straight from God, and we should always follow them unless we have a really good reason not to follow them.

When a particular individual comes to your attention -- either from direct personal contact or from an indirect contact, such as a news report -- you can always take a moment to offer a brief prayer for that particlar person and for those who are close to him. For example, "Lord, please help Joe Jones who was injured today, and all of his loved ones." And if you feel the impulse to expand on this prayer, go ahead and do it.

Likewise, when groups of people come to your attention, you can always offer a brief prayer for them. For example, "Lord, please help those tornado victims I saw on TV, and all of their loved ones." And if you feel the impulse to expand on this prayer, go ahead and do it.

We recognize that millions of people are constantly in need, even though they have not specifically come to our attention. It is always a good idea to say a general prayer for them, too, perhaps something like this: "Dear Lord, please help and bless all those who are suffering and in need. Please bring to them Your aid and Your relief."

Caution: Do not start criticizing God for allowing bad things to happen to good people. God does things for His own reasons, which none of us are entitled to understand at this time. For more on this subject, please see my message, "Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?," located at http://www.internetchurchofchrist.org/pearl-badthingstogoodpeople.html

Q: If God already knows everything, why do we need to pray for anything? Doesn't He already know what we want?

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