Jesus admonished us not pray as the hypocrites "...to be seen by men...". Absolutely no high-browed pius intent in anything I have said. The media was sticking cameras evrywhere a camera could fit. It was all too common that in the midst of a prayer to feel a bump, only to open your eyes and find a camera lens inches away. During the communion service, one cameraman knelt down nearly between my friend's legs to get a close-up shot of her women's devotional Bible cover...I mean inches away! To them, it was all about their story. To the believers it was a desire to get away from the their mockery and the distractions that the camera lenses and microphones caused. It was about "be ye separate".
Thanks for your understanding through and despite my poor writing style.
Oh, no, I wasn't critcizing your writing style or anything else. I just liked the way you turned that phrase, however inadvertantly.
// It was easily seen that this man’s heart is broken, but that prayers were supporting him and that he was truly thankful. // --
thank you so much for being there and for putting all this into words. yes, it is as you say. I posted that Sat am there was a woman who had gone off to pray, only to have 3 cameramen crouched right up at her snapping photos in rapid succession, trying to get just the right nuanced expression, I guess. One was prone on the ground -- I said 2 ft away, but it was truly inches. I took a photo of the 3 photographers, mentioned it to 2 bystanders, then asked them to back off and respect her privacy, to no avail. I prayed as I walked the length of the sidewalk several times that night and morning, and with another person WAY off to the side that night, and in my little car closet.
I wondered what I had "accomplished" by being there. I was told it was enough just to be there in support of the Schindlers by those in Terri's fight, and I've heard Bob Schindlers say that on TV. I did get to see and hug Bobby and Suzanne Fri night. I did get to drop off some healthy food and drink to help sustain those who were there. And I did get to see floriduh voter and russes junjee again, and meet dandelion and Eternal Vigilence. I left "now and later" spring flower baskets for fv, amdgmary, and phenn . . . that I pray will bring a measure of comfort and God's beauty to them in the midst of the ugliness and confusion that surrounds them right now.
Before I left, I hugged E. with Terri's fight, and asked him to please pass it on to others there, as well as the knowledge that they are all being constantly lifted up in prayer. I returned to my family's warm embrace (after a flat tire on busy / rainy I-75 that took 2 + 1 hr to repair w/spring break traffic!), much to their relief. I had been under strict orders first from my husband, then from my very concerned children, to "keep it legal", not to try to take Terri water. ["We must obey God rather than men!" was on my mind, but I did promise...and anyway, it didn't seem right to do at that time . . .]
That's one thing you didn't mention -- the heavy spring break / Easter weekend traffic. I had figured to get there Fri before Sean's TV show aired from there, but alas, that didn't work.