"Im Proud of You, Tim"

Mister Rogers via last.fm

I seem to be on a spiritual journey these days. I went to a store the other day (it was actually a Dollar Store) and finding a sale on books, I ran across 2 books that intrigued me. The first one is "I'm Proud of You," by Tim Madigan. It is the story of Tim's friendship with Fred Rogers (From Mister Rogers Neighborhood). Tim Madigan a Journalist, in 1995 for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, doing a story on Fred Rogers, and it depicts how their relationship grew over the years. It is a tender and moving story, but what left me with such confusion was the way that Fred Rogers always asked for Tim Madigan to pray for him, and when Steve Madigan, Tim's brother, was dying from Cancer; Fred asked Steve to pray for him also. Left with this confusion, but feeling that I was about to learn something new and crucial to my spiritual awakening, I began to read the second book. "The Prayer of Jabez, by Dr. Bruce Wilkinson with David Koopp, a small book about a passage in the bible where during a long list of genealogy, is a little verse (1Chronicles 4:9), and also verse 10) Verse 9 which reads "And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying "because I bore him with sorrow." (Wilkinson refers to it as "born in pain, which is the Hebrew translation for the word Jabez)verse 10 reads "and Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested."
The book goes on to relate a fable called:
Mr. Jones Goes to Heaven
It tells how when Mr. Jones enters heaven and Peter gives him a tour, Mr. Jones notices a building that Peter has not shown him. Mr. Jones aks Peter why he did not show him that building, Peter says, "Oh, You don't want to see that one." Mr. Jones asks again at the end of the tour to see the building. Peter relents and lets him in. Mr. Jones sees a room full of shelves filled with white boxes with red ribbons around them, he notices that they all have names on them. He asks Peter if there is one with his name on it. When Peter says, "yes, there is." Mr Jones finds his box and opens it. When he looks inside he sees all the blessings that God had stored for him during his time on earth but...Mr. Jones never asked him for them."
Every show I watched on television this weekend all carried pretty much the same message about asking God for "your' blessings. Jack Canfield refers to this as "reverse paranoia, and I see it as the "Law of Attraction, alive and well and living inside of me.
If you want to purchase either of these books they are on top this post, but check your "Dollar Store" first.
And please remember "To Pray for Me,"