| Need a prayer? Just put it in writing By Michael Stetz STAFF WRITER San Diego Tribune |
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The tiny white boxes are like hotlines to heaven. They say: “Need Prayer?” The boxes are spread throughout Ocean Beach, attached to the outside of businesses and churches. Next to them are pen and paper. You write a request and stuff it in the box. Every Sunday, people from a nondenominational ministry unlock the boxes, take out the pieces of paper and gather at Antioch Place, a cluster of buildings in Ocean Beach that serves as their refuge. Then they bow their heads and close their eyes and . . Pray. For just about everything imaginable. People ask for prayers for money to pay their rent. For a job. For a Chargers win. Some seek prayers for loved ones who are fighting cancer. For an end to war. Some requests come from kids. The handwriting gives them away. They ask for prayers to be, like, the best skateboarder ever. And to have a parent get off drugs. Rita Dalton is among those who pray for the strangers who scribble the notes. She does it because someone once prayed for her, when she was hurting and on drugs. “We step up and intercede, because we know what it can do,” said Dalton, 48, who has been drug-free for five years. So Dalton, who works for a real estate company during the week, walks the streets and helps pick up the prayer requests. She wipes the boxes clean of grime and smudges. It was her fiancé, Jim Simon, 43, who got the idea of putting up the prayer boxes last year. Like Dalton, he once was on drugs. Three years ago, as he was preparing to go on the bender of all benders, Simon instead went sober. He later learned that Dalton had been praying for him. AdvertisementToday, Simon lives in Hillcrest and is studying for the ministry so he can further his work with Christ for the City International, an evangelical ministry that spurs such work throughout the world. People today need something like the prayer boxes, Simon said. People are disconnected. People are lost, scared, alone. Some have nowhere else to turn. Not everybody sees it that way, of course. A couple of the boxes are close to bars and have been vandalized. One has been torched. People have mocked the concept by stuffing in jokes. One person asked for a prayer for money so he could get “good weed.” The people who pray don't let these jabs bother them. They merely pray for the people who write such things. The prayer boxes – there are eight – aren't designed to convert anybody, Simon said. If you want a prayer, drop in a request. If not, leave it be. “No one is standing there, trying to beat you over the head with a Bible,” he said. On a recent Sunday, Simon and Dalton, along with Scott Hillegas, who helps with the prayer-box ministry, made the rounds, walking the streets as nearby bars hopped with activity. They collected 10 requests and took them back to Antioch Place, where they made a little circle and took turns reading the requests and offering prayers. One request was from a woman asking that her son, who is facing a felony assault charge, be cleared of the crime. One person asked that they pray for his “damaged soul.” One asked that they pray for the situation in Iraq to improve. A woman asked that they pray for her marriage. And so they did. Because, for some, life at the beach isn't all about sunshine and hanging ten and getting the perfect tan. Some need a prayer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Stetz: (619) 293-1720; michael.stetz@uniontrib.com |
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