This Wake Up Call is courtesy of my daughter Jessica from several years ago after a wonderful trip to Hawaii. At the time she badly needed it after two years in graduate school. Jessica is fairly athletic; she snow skies, water skies, etc. so when she was given the chance to take a wind surfing lesson she jumped at it.

After two hours, however, she could not get up and stay up on the board. No matter how hard she tried, she failed. I asked if her teacher were any good and she said the teacher was excellent. Was the wind quirky that day? No, the conditions for learning were fine; she just couldn’t do it somehow.

Anyhow, the idea finally popped into her head; “Why don’t I pray?” So she threw up a quick prayer asking God to please help her and on the very next try she was able to get up. Unfortunately the lesson time was just about up so her triumph didn’t last too long.

As she walked away from her wind surfing she asked herself; “Why didn’t I pray first?” She realized she often tries to do things on her own and only prays when all else fails instead of starting everything with prayer. I smiled when I heard this story because I really identify with it. I so often forget what the scripture says; “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2)

How many things don’t I have because I never asked? How about you? As you go through your day today, tomorrow and the next day, DON’T FORGET TO ASK!