Zabeth and Paul Bayne – Part 40 – The Bayne Campaign for Justice

IS PRAYER A LAST RESORT FOR THE BAYNE CASE?

I have just finished reading an article called Prayer: The Court of Last Resort. It was written in the summer 2009 publication of Kindred Spirit by Michael Justice.

What he writes about is crucial to the Bayne family case. I will tell you why. I acknowledge that not everyone who is sympathetic and supportive of the Baynes is a Christian or a person of faith in a supreme being. This is a no fault statement. To express compassion and human kindness does not require faith. If a ‘no faith’ or a ‘not yet persuaded’ position characterizes you, no problem but will you indulge me as I speak to those who are people of faith for a moment? You see I think some of us have a problem.

For far too many people with faith, despite all we have been taught, prayer becomes our last resort. It’s the old “If all else fails” syndrome. A crisis between what is espoused and what is practiced. Sometimes those of us who believe we have a relationship with the omnipotent Creator live with a disconnect between our confidence and our reality. Michael Justice spoke to that for me.

Michael lost his sight years ago. One of his friends, Dennis Dordigan suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for more than twenty-eight years. Dennis had been involved in Christian work. In discussion one day Michael stumbled into sympathy for Dennis that he could no longer preach, teach, and write as he had done before. Dennis rebuked him with, “Mike! I still pray!” In his barely audible voice he told Michael that he must not think much of the ministry of prayer. It had become a last resort for Mike whereas for Dennis, lives and situations were positively changed through the hours he spent communicating with his heavenly Father.

Here’s a thought. Perhaps this anecdote puts Zabeth’s and Paul’s and their children’s dilemma into a fresh perspective. I can write and we can make others aware and we can write letters of appeal to government officers and we can encourage media to get on this case yet all we do requires something very special in order to be effective. The research, the preparation and the delivery of the case that will eventually be taken by the Bayne’s legal representative to Court, will be convincingly effective if those of us who pray will not treat this communication as the court of last resort but first appeal.