Set Phasers To ... What?!

The topic of prayer has been hitting my radar over the last month or so.  I go to (outdoor) church, the topic is prayer.  On the radio, the song’s about prayer.  My online devotional, prayer.  The prize in the Cracker Jack box...no wait, that was a flattened plastic panda. 

Still, prayer has been front and center for awhile.

This morning, I'm sitting out on the veranda watching the sunrise.  Actually, I'm sitting on a plastic lawn chair next to the house with a little plastic table and a small thermos of the Elixir of Knowledge.

The Little-House-On-The-Corner has a sidewalk and two flower beds.  No veranda.

The sky begins its transformation from night to day like those star-crossed lovers in Ladyhawke.  Or like Lon Chaney enduring the metamorphosis into The Wolfman. Wait.  That's not right.

Sunrises are times of hope.  The grand, unlimited possibilities of a new day being born fresh and anew.

Noon is the time when I realize the day has jumped the tracks and The Wolfman is rampaging through the village.

But not sunrises.

The orange clouds begin their imperceptible stroll to white as I take my first pull of the Elixir.  And the idea of prayer pops up like a daffodil through Spring snow.  Again with the prayer.

Huh.

Another hot swig and an anomaly forms.  A nice Trekkie word, "anomaly".  And it forms into a "Trekkie" thought. (Cue the transporter sparkles and noise)

Prayer and phasers.

I peek into the thermos and take a whiff.  No.  It is coffee.

Huh.

Ohhhh.  Yeah, that makes sense.

Kinda.

There was an old original Star Trek episode called "The Menagerie".  (For you rabid Trekkies, that would be 11/17/66). It was a two-parter.  The starship captain, Christopher Pike, and his crew are captured by this advanced bunch of aliens.

(You can tell they're advanced 'cause they have 45-pound-baby-butt heads.  Only the really smart aliens have those.)

Captain Pike and the crew are put in this rock-walled zoo cage with an impenetrable glass front.  And the captain does the first thing any starship captain would do.  He blasts away with his phaser.

The phaser doesn't work.  He tries again.

Nothing happens.  Nothing changes.  Still trapped.  Still captive.

He drops the phaser in disgust.

The camera rolls, yadda-yadda, until the Big Moment.  The crew is sleeping...a rock door slides silently open...an alien hand reaches for the phaser lying nearby...Captain Pike leaps on the alien and grabs it by the throat...(turns out, the alien's a wuss)... the alien turns into a budget-conscious dinky Godzilla...the captain threatens to kill it if it doesn't stop the illusion...the 45-pound-baby-butt head reappears.

Captain Pike then grabs the phaser and points it at the alien's Gerber-like cranium.  He threatens to pull the trigger to see if it really doesn't work.  The alien caves.  All illusions vanish.

The crew looks around.

Their cage is full of holes.

They could've left at anytime.

They were actually free.

Huh.

It really is like that, isn't it?

He's given us the most incredibly powerful weapon ever known.  Prayer.  And the Enemy, the original butt-head, creates the illusion that it doesn't work.

So we won't use it.

So we won't realize its power.

The sky is now a brilliant yellow-white that will soon give way to a full-blown day. The Elixir is gone.  Time to go inside.

I get up and stretch.  The neighbors aren't up yet.  No one's around.

I strike my best action pose, pointing the small thermos at the alien who is being played by a robin on top of the fire hydrant.  I softly bellow in my best "Kirk" voice - (that's as in "Captain", not "Cameron") -

"Set all ----- prayer ----- phasers -- to FULL!      Fire as ----- HE ----- directs!"

Thaaaat's what I'm talkin' about...

Make it so, eh?