In episodes 123 and 124, we talked about prayer, and in 124, especially we talked about

meal time prayers, Pastor John, in your opinion, what's more valuable in promp to prayers before

a meal or memorized prayers?

I think the wise thing to do would be to mix it up.

If the only prayers that children hear their parents pray are memorized prayers, it will probably

communicate to them, that's the only way you can pray to God, at least at meal time.

And yet I don't want to discount memorized and well thought through prayers because they

too have a blessing and the blessing they have is because they say things often that we

need to say and might forget to say if we hadn't thought them through.

They're also easy to memorize for little children and they have a kind of family identification

and bonding effect.

If I think of our family, Tony, years and years ago, I wrote three prayers, one for the

morning, one for lunch, and one for supper.

And if our family gets together now and these boys, my four sons, tell us still at home,

my guess is, well, I'll give you an example, we went to Brazil for Benjamin's wedding.

That's been some time now, but that's how old he was and Carson was already married.

And this Brazilian family turned to me and said, would you say grace over the meal and

some omber believers probably and some weren't?

And I took a risk and I said, well, tell you what, I'd like my whole family to say the

grace for you.

And then I began the prayer.

Let me see if I can put my finger on it right now.

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