One of the highlights of my day is hearing my kids pray each night. A couple of nights ago, this is what Joshua prayed:

“Dear God, please bless the poor people and the sick people and all the people in the world. And help me to do all the things my Mom and Dad want me to do. And help me to be strong and courageous and never afraid.”

This is pretty much what he prays every night. Then he started to freestyle, which is where it gets interesting.

“And thank you for the St. Louis Cardinals and for the Titans and for the Vols. I really love them and I want them to always do good and win. And please don’t let Florida do good and don’t let Alabama do good and don’t let Georgia do good and don’t let the Cubs do good. And all those teams that we don’t like, please don’t let them play good and win because we don’t like them. And don’t let their players do good. Because I don’t like them.”

At this point, I couldn’t keep a straight face anymore. I interrupted him and I told him that we shouldn’t pray things like that. I said we might not pull for those teams, but we shouldn’t pray for them to lose. That’s not what God would want us to do. I said, “How about we pray for them to not get hurt?”

He thought about it for a second and said, “OK. But I still don’t want them to win.” I said, “Yeah, I don’t either, son.”

I’m not sure this is what Jesus had in mind when he said love your enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:44), but in SEC country, it’s a start!