My Future

As you can probably tell by the title, I'm taking a little break from the Friends series today. If you remember, I said in a previous blog that I would soon blog about some of my dreams/ideas for my future besides being a college professor. This is that blog.

Of course, college professor seems to be my most likely career path right now, but I'm not 100% committed to it just yet. Another possibility that really tugs at me sometimes is working with Wycliffe. If you don't know, Wycliffe is an awesome missions organization dedicated to translating Bibles into the languages of people groups that do not yet have them. If I were to ever go into ministry or missions of any sort, this is definitely what I would want to do. It's a really scary thought though. I was just now looking at the Wycliffe website, and as I was reading and thinking about working with them, I felt great excitement and tremendous fear at the same time.

I also have a few other ideas, though they seem to be much less noble. I think owning a coffee shop would be thoroughly awesome. I love being a barista; I love making, tasting, smelling, and consuming coffee. What else can I say? Owning a coffee shop would simply be following my love.

If I were to truly follow one of my loves though, I would, of course, be a professional wrestler. Of all my ideas, I definitely consider this one the most far-fetched/unlikely/silly/impossible. I don't have much motivation for exercise, and a lifetime of being on the road and beating myself up isn't all that appealing. But man, I sure do think about it a lot. I often visualize myself in matches in my daydreams. Sometimes I just can't stop imagining myself give someone an RKO, or a superkick, or a second-rope to top-rope springboard moonsault.

Those are the long-term dreams. As far as the immediate future goes, I'm pretty sure I want to, after getting my Master's degree, spend a year in Honduras teaching English at a Christian school. It was founded by one of the missionaries that I met at a missions summit back in December, and as he was talking it up, I really felt like it would be a great opportunity for me to experience something like that on a short-term basis. I went to Mexico a few years ago, but that was only for a couple of weeks. I think an entire year in another country would really be helpful in this whole decision-making/calling-finding process.

Anywho, those are my dreams. Now you know them. Though I don't really know exactly what I want to do yet, I'm not too worried. I wholeheartedly believe in the Scripture that asserts that though a man has plans in his heart, it is God who determines his steps (Prov. 16:9). Also, I was just astounded this morning when reading what God asked Cain when his face was downcast:

"Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" (Gen. 4:6-7a)

God offers Cain here such a simple way out of his problem, and I think he makes the same wonderfully simple offer to us. That's not to say that when we do right, life is just easy and peachy all the time. It simply means that if we do right, and we don't let sin and selfishness misdirect us, then we don't have to worry about our lives. God will take care of us.

Ken, Born of Fire

Friends, Pt. 3

Welcome to the third part of my friends series, where I share memories of some of my bestest friends. The young lady you see in the picture to your right is the subject of today's blog. Her name is April Hermanson, and she is the (soon to be no longer, *sad face*) director of Cafe XA, where I am a "Special Events Barista." The file that I'm pulling from the vault for today is labeled "Coffee Bar Mornings."

This one is actually not so much a specific memory as it is a collection of memories. I guess it's a category of memories. Back when I first started working at the coffee bar on a regular basis, I was an opener, but I didn't have a key, so April would have to come open the building for me and put in the security code and whatnot. Thankfully though, she wouldn't just open it for me and then leave and go back to bed or anything like that (it was 6:30 in the morning, and she lived right across the street. If I was in her situation, I probably would have done that). But no, she would stay in there with me, and we would pretend to try to study, but really, it was too early to study, so we would just talk and constantly interrupt each other's "studying."

Those were good times, especially the ones where we had some kind of trouble with the espresso machine. It was a very fickle machine, and it often decided that it didn't feel like working so early in the morning. Or other times it would decide that the floor needed a mopping, so it would leak water all over. It was one of these times that led to one of my favorite quotes of all time. I forget exactly what happened, but something was going terribly wrong with the coffee bar, and April, clearly frustrated, but doing her best to remain calm, said, "I'm trying not to be a girl about it." I love that quote. I'm going to go put it on my "Favorite Quotes" on Facebook now.

Ken, Born of Fire

Friends, Pt. 2

This is the one and only Jacob D'Avy. And this blog is part two in my ongoing "Friends" series. Jacob is one of my best friends, and we were roomates for a year, so I definitely have plenty of memories with Jacob. When I reached for my Jacob files in the old memory vault, the first one that I pulled was one labeled "Avril Lavigne." Yes, I remember it like it was yesterday.

As I said, Jacob and I roomed together for a year, back in 2003-2004. There was this one night when I came back to the room kinda late, and Jacob was already in bed on his top bunk. So I got ready for bed myself, and, as I was and am accustomed to doing, I got into to bed to read for a little while before actually going to sleep. So I read whatever book it was that I was reading at the time. Then once I started to get sleepy, I was about to go turn out the light. As I turn to get out of bed, I look up to see nothing less than a giant image of pop singer Avril Lavigne staring me right in the face! I was quite startled, and yelled "What the heck!" as I jumped out of bed. I then hear Jacob, who I thought was sleeping, laughing from his top bunk.

He got me good. Jacob is a frequent frequenter of Good Will stores, and he later explained to me that on his last visit he had happened to find a huge poster of Avril Lavigne and thought it'd be a fun prank to tape it above my bed.

That poster ended up being the source of many more fun memories throughout the semester; if you want to know about them, just ask either one of us. I'm sure you'll get a good laugh. Anywho, that's Jacob for ya.

Ken, Born of Fire

Friends, Pt. 1

I got an idea for a series of blogs I can do. I got the idea as me, April Hermanson, Amanda Meadows, and Jacob D'Avy were sitting around at CC's, drinking coffee and whatnot. We were searching for our names on Google's blog search to see if anyone was blogging about us. It was pretty fun. You should try it. Anywho, Amanda found her name in one of my blogs, but then when she read it, she was a little disappointed that she was only briefly mentioned. (I guess she was expecting some kind of exuberant lauding of her many skills, talents, and personality traits, or something like that. To that, I would just sing an updated version of that classic song:

You're so vain,
I bet you think this blog is about you.

(I wish you could do footnotes on blogs, but since you can't, I have to settle for long parenthetical comments like this one)). Well, as I was saying, I then got the idea to do a series of blogs where I tell stories/memories of various friends. So here's part 1, and guess who it's gonna be about . . . you guessed it: Amanda J!



So, as I reached into my memory vault for files marked "Amanda J," I found one with the subtitle, "Drunk Amanda." Ah yes, I remember that. It's one of the funnest Amanda memories I have:

Our friend Christina was having a birthday party at her apartment one night. We ate burritos and cookies and drank sodas and had a good time. As it got later and later, Amanda was having an especially good time. In fact, she was reaching a state of delirium that she often reaches when she's tired and it's late. Now I know that it's a fairly normal occurrence for Amanda, but this just so happened to be my first time witnessing it. She was just laughing uncontrollably at every little thing. But what really made the night unforgettable was that she happened to have had a big glass bottle of Perrier (carbonated mineral water) in her hand, which she was drinking between giggles. As I looked over at her laughing and drinking, I realized that she had become a dead ringer for a drunkard. Her face was red, she was incoherent, and she appeared to be clumsily slingin' back at 40. It was hilarious.

And she was a Chi Alpha intern, so the image of her drunk was especially incongruent with my perception of her. Funny. Just funny.

So that's Amanda. And so ends Friends, Pt. 1 Stay tuned for Pt. 2, and 3, and 4, and 5, and 25.

Ken, Born of Fire

The Verdict Is In.

The Blog of Fire is back for another installment!

So, as you probably are fully aware of, I just recently completed my first semester of teaching. And as you are probably equally aware of, teaching is what I want to pursue as a career. So, as you are probably equally capable of discerning as you are aware of those two things, this was an extremely important semester for me. I did, for the first time, what I intend to do for the next 40 or so years of my life. If I liked it, it would be a good sign that I should continue going in the direction that I am. If I hated it, it would perhaps be a sign that I should reconsider the whole course of my life! So which was it, you ask?

I loved it! There's just something so exhilarating about seeing someone really learn something for the first time. And it's more than just seeing them learn something about whatever the subject of the course happens to be (in my case, writing). When you teach someone something, you're really teaching them how to think. This is especially true when teaching writing. It's not like I can just spit out a bunch of facts, and then they memorize them and spit them back at me on a test. I'm teaching them how to organize, support, clarify, evaluate, and revise their thoughts and beliefs, and when they realize that that's what they're doing, it's an incredible sight to behold.

And of course, it doesn't hurt that my students actually seem to have liked me. A group of about 5 or 6 of them all gave me a thank you card at the end of the semester. That just put it all over the top.

So, for anyone wondering what my future is looking like, being a college professor is still looking pretty likely. I have other ideas too, but I'll save those thoughts for a future blog.

Ken, Born of Fire

P.S. I read yo mama's blog today. She said she was feeling a little lupine and that she was thinking about going out with the pack tonight.

Yo Mama

For those of you biting at the chomp for a new blog: C'mon, gimme a break, it's freakin' finals week coming up!

I do have a great yo mama joke that I'd like to share with you though.

Yo mama's so fat, when taking a bath, she uses considerably more soap and water than an average person, and she takes longer to dry herself off, partly because of her greater skin area, partly because of the difficulty in manipulating a towel around her immense girth, but also partly because she actively avoids looking at herself in the mirror, because even though, deep down, she knows she's fat, she can't handle the visual confirmation of her obesity.

~Ken, Born of Fire

Interpreting Roosters.

The little man with the frown,
he comes to town every now and then.
But I never let him stay long,
lest he forget he is meant to pitch tents.

There is a sadness,
so beautiful in it's time.
But "Cock-a-doodle-doo,"
translated to English means,
"The hour of joy is upon us,"
and a blazing sphere plays peek-a-boo
to make us laugh like little ones.

Lungs and Hearts Don't Have Arms

Have you ever noticed
how your lungs
don't have arms
or hands?

Thus
they can't really
reach out
and grab the air
that they need.

And they don't need to.
They just open up, and
ahh . . . there it is.

And have you ever noticed
how your heart
doesn't have arms
or hands?

So
it can't really
reach out
and grab the God
that it needs.

And it doesn't need to.
Just open it up, and
ahh . . . there He is.

Life With Coffee

I'll just say this: caffeine's a heck of a drug!

You know what though? It's really not about the caffeine. It's about the coffee. The taste. The aroma. The flavorful, fragrant dance with my senses that I experience when the first sip hits my tongue. The relaxation I experience when I sit down and do absolutely nothing but enjoy life and pleasure and God and my surroundings. That's the really special part. I don't -need- caffeine, and I proved it for 40 days.

The caffeine is just lagniappe. It's like buying Axe Body Wash and getting a free trial size stick of Axe deodorant with it. It's the icing on the cake. The cherry on the sundae. The walnuts in the brownies. I'm really hungry.

Basically, it's the little extra thing on the main big thing.

But still: caffeine's a heck of a drug!

And that's the word.

~Ken, Born of Fire

P.S. You wanna hear a joke? What do you tell someone who's nervous and constipated? You tell them to take a relaxative.

Fleeing Earth

Though she's not actually there,
I can't look at a globe and not see America,
Her great states stretching out beyond their size.
(Alaska and Hawaii seem to be there
just to assure me
that borders were never quite her cup of tea).

What will happen when she's really gone?
I'm referring not to the time when she's no longer represented
visually on some atlas,
but to the time when the land mass she onced called home
picks up its roots and runs!
My world, my earth and my heaven,
Fled, dead and unpresent.

Will I survive
the haunting sight
of my great protector's
moment of cowardice?

I think so.

There's so much in my mind
And it's hard
to find
the time
to sort it
and give some order to it.

So I'm planning to let it pile
and not tend to it for a while
And let stacks of sticky notes
build houses
with motes
and floors
and ceiling tiles.


I think I'll add more to this later.

~Ken, Born of Fire

Homesickness

It's funny how things change sometimes. When I first came to college, I used to go home every weekend. Staying all the way in Lafayette, a whole hour and a half away from good ol' Morgan City and my family, wasn't even a consideration.

Then I started making friends, mainly through Chi Alpha. Once I did, there was some appeal to staying over the weekend. I could actually do something besides watch TV in my lonely little room with my creepily silent roomate. I started staying. Just a few times a semester at first. Nothing major. Gradually, slowly, I began to stay a little bit more frequently. Within a few years, I transitioned from going more than staying to staying more than going.

Fast forward to this semester, 5 years after that first bold adventure of staying the weekend. I haven't been home all semester. This is most certainly the longest amount of time I've ever been away from home. And I don't know if I've ever said this before, but I'm actually homesick. I've been feeling pretty bad lately, and for awhile I couldn't figure out why. But I guess I just figured it out today:

I miss my family. I miss my Mom. I miss my Dad. I miss my brother and his wife (who's pregnant, btw). I miss my sisters and brother-in-law and my 2 little nieces. And gosh how I hate, hate, hate seeing that my nieces have grown a LOT since the last time I've seen them and knowing that I missed out on so much. I miss my grandparents. I miss the 2 friends whom I always make a point to see everytime I go home. All this missing has just been eating away at me.

Don't worry about me though. This isn't meant to be a sob story. First of all, now that I've figured all that out, I feel a lot better. AND, guess what? I get to go home THIS WEEKEND! And not just for a weekend, but for 10 whole stinkin' days! I'm so excited!

So you see, this story does have a happy ending. : )

BTW: I can drink coffee again! I'll talk about that next time.

~Ken, Born of Fire

A List

I came up with 10 things you can do to feel like a really important/awesome person when you're walking around on campus:

10. Always have your cell phone out. If you're not actually talking to anyone, pretend. And act like you're really chewing them out about something.

9. Puff up your shoulders, stick out your chest, and flex your arms as you walk. Do this just enough to look buff, but not so much that you draw attention to yourself.

8. One word: scowl.

7. Walk at a steady, fairly quick pace, and look frustrated when having to walk around people or slow down, or . . .

6. Walk at a cool, relaxed pace. Take the time to stop and smell the occasional flower.

*Whether you do 6 or 7 just depends on what kind of mood you're in: 7 is, "I have really important stuff to do, so get out of my way you buncha slow-poke slackers." 8 is more along the lines of, "I'm so important that it doesn't matter if I'm late because no one will dare hold me accountable for it, so I take my time, fool."

5. Smile and wave at random people that you don't know. It might even help if you say, "Hey, [insert random name here]." Then the people behind you will think you must be really important and awesome because you know everybody.

*Now, you might be thinking that this will make you look really dumb if the person stops and says, "Hey, that's not my name. Do I know you?" But trust me, that never happens.

4. When crossing the street at a crosswalk, pay attention to the street light. Time your walk so that you start crossing just before the light turns, to where your foot makes contact with the street at the exact second that the crosswalk says walk and the beeping sound starts.

3. God forbid, but if you happen to drop something, DON'T pick it up. If someone picks it up for you, act like you didn't notice, casually take it back, and keep walking.

2. If you pass by someone who happens to be smoking a cigarette, pull it out of their mouth and throw it on the ground. Don't stop to do this. Keep a steady pass and do it quickly as you pass them by. If you do it correctly, that may not even notice who did it.

1. Finally, the number one way to feel really awesome and important when walking around on campus: hum one of two tunes inaudibly to yourself: either The Imperial March from Star Wars or Eye of the Tiger. If you do this, you'll feel like you own the freakin' campus, and the other 9 things will just come naturally to you.

~Ken, Born of Fire

The Insufficiency of Rhetoric in Resisting Temptation

One thing I love about having a blog now is that it gives me one more reason to procrastinate doing school work. : ) I love it. If there's one thing I really need in my life, it's more motivation for procrastination.

So recently I've been thinking about the ways in which I resist sin. And regarding that, I thought of something that I phrase the insufficiency of rhetoric. Now, I shall blog about it:


Rhetoric: "The art of using language so as to persuade or influence others; the body of rules to be observed by a speaker or writer in order that he may express himself with eloquence" (OED).


"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God . . . My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." (1 Corinthains 2:1, 4-5)


In this passage of Scripture, Paul is talking about preaching the Gospel. However, I believe that the principle he is putting forth here is one that can be applied to other areas as well. Just as rhetoric (or eloquent/wise/persuasive speech) is insufficient for causing someone to believe the message of Jesus, it is also insufficient for causing a believer to resist any given temptation to sin.

When I am being tempted with some kind of sin, my first resort is to argue with the temptation. The temptation says "Do it," and I reply, "No, it's not worth it." Temptation says, "It won't hurt anyone," and I reply, "It will hurt the heart of God." Temptation says, "He'll forgive you," and I reply, "I don't want him to have to."

And the conversation goes on in this way. What's happening is that I'm basically trying to persuade myself against the arguments of the temptation. And if I rely solely on my own persuasive power in order to resist, I usually fall short. I sin. The rhetoric is not sufficient.

Don't get me wrong though; it's not like the rhetoric isn't helpful. Going back to the passage of Scripture, look at who wrote it: the Apostle Paul. When you read his letters, you see very quickly that Paul was a master rhetorician. And look at Acts 17. Paul could argue persuasively with the top philosophers in all of Athens. He definitely knew the value of persuasive speech, but he also knew that that's not where the true power lies. The true power of the Gospel is found only in the Spirit of God.

It is that very same Spirit whom Paul refers to here, the Spirit on whom the faith of every believer rests, who will also strengthen us to resist sin, so that our holiness might not rest on our own rhetoric, but on God's power. As long as a believer continues to rely on his own strength, and the power of his own mind, to resist sin, he will continue to fail and fail again. The only solution is to ask God for his Holy Spirit and the power that he provides, and to receive it with an open heart. All other methods are hopeless.

Going Chuck Norris on the Disobedience Monster

Only 13 more days till I can drink coffee again! Part of me wants to that life without coffee isn't so bad. Really. I don't think about it all that much. But man, when I do think about it, it's usually because I could really use some.

And it's not like I can just not think about because the stuff is EVERYWHERE. McDonald's is advertising new "bolder, richer coffee" with big banners over their stores. Ryan Bourque is coming over every Tuesday and Thursday morning for a fresh cup. I walk into Cafe XA, there's coffee. I go to my office in Griffin, there's coffee. I eat upstairs in the Student Union, there's coffee. I walk around campus, every freakin' body is drinkin' coffee!

Remember last week, when I told you about the Conscience Monster? Well, now the Disobedience Monster is messing with me:

"C'mon, Ken. You don't really have to do this."

"I know I don't, Disobedience Monster. I wanted to do it."

"No you didn't. You were just giving in to the peer pressure of the Conscience Monster."

"Well, yeah, sort of, but I wanted to give in to him."

"But 40 days is such a looong time."

"Not really."

"You could just have a little. No one would know about it."

"I would know about it, and that's enough. Now, shut your fat, stupid face before I roundhouse kick it, Chuck Norris-style."

"You wouldn't do that, would . . . " WHAM!

"Don't ever doubt me again, fool."

And that's how I deal with the Disobedience Monster. A little roundhouse action sends him running back home to his momma. And yeah, he usually goes back, works out, beefs up a little bit, and tries to come back looking all bad and strong. That's why I just keep eating my cereal. Nothing keeps you prepared for an attack from Disobedience like a healthy bowl of Frosted Flakes. That fool ain't got nothin' on the power of those sweet, crispy, whole grain flakes drowned in a giant bowl with pure, white, lipidy whole milk. That's right. Believe that.

~Ken, Born of Fire

Coffee, Lent, and the Conscience Monster

I gave up coffee for Lent.

Can you believe that? Perhaps I should say it again:

I gave up coffee for Lent.

"Why?" you ask? Well, I'm not 100% sure. I'm not Catholic, so it's not like I'm supposed to give up something for Lent. But I have done it in the past. The first time I did it I simply wasn't aware that it was a Catholic tradition. I had just become a Christian, and I thought it was something all Christians did. The year after that, I knew that it was a Catholic tradition, but I thought it was pretty cool so I did it anyway. Then for the next few years I didn't do it at all, and I wasn't exactly planning to this year either. This is how it happened:

I was in the Chi Alpha house with Amanda J Meadows and April Hermanson. I was eating at the kitchen table and they were chatting in the living room when I heard April say, "So I'm thinking about giving up coffee for Lent."

"Hmm, that's quite admirable of her," I thought to myself.

Then as soon as I thought that, the Conscience Monster whispered in my ear, "If it's so admirable, why don't you do it?"

"No, Conscience Monster," I immediately retorted. "You're just trying to make me do something 'religious' so I can feel good about myself and impress people. Well, I'm not gonna fall for it."

"That's not it at all," he argued. "Can't you just do something good for the sake of doing something good, and for your own benefit?"

"Well . . . yeah . . . I guess . . . But I really like coffee."

"Exactly."

"And what about Ryan? We drink coffee together every Tuesday and Thursday morning. He would be so disappointed."

"He can still come over and drink coffee, and y'all can still talk. It's the talking that's the important thing, right? Not the coffee?"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right. Okay, well, I'll do it."

At this point April walks back into the room after having gone to McDonald's.

"Hey, April, guess what . . . I think I'm gonna give up coffee for Lent, too."

"Really? That's awesome," she exclaimed.

Now going back inside my head:

"Oh no. What have I just done? I told someone. That means I have to stay committed to it."

"Yep, it sure does."

"No one asked for your input, Conscience Monster."

"Hey, look at the bright side. You'll save a lot of money."

"Yeah, whatever."

The lesson to be learned here is that the Conscience Monster is a ruthless beast, who will stop at nothing to make you do what he wants. He normally hides out under your bed, and he looks like a giant meatball.

In my next post, I'll tell you all about life without coffee and what it's like.

My eyes!

My eyes are burninating right now. Mainly because I'm tired, and I've been staring at a computer screen for awhile. I should go to bed, but I'm waiting for something, so I can't. Anywho, I'm kinda doing this just to pass some time. It'll probably be the most boring blog ever because I don't actually have any real motivation for writing it, but I don't think anybody reads this anyway. At least not as far as I know. Anybody out there? Hello? Just checking. I've haven't told anybody about it because I don't update it regularly. Pretty much only when I feel like it. I guess it's more for me than anyone else. Just to post stuff, and give my fingers something to type when they haven't had a paper due for an English class in a while. They need to stay in shape, and since I don't have much time to play video games when I'm school, this really helps.

I wish I would sleep more. I usually get at least 7 hrs. a night, but wouldn't it be awesome to get 8? All it would require is a little discipline to say no to things, and little more hard work during the day to make sure I get all my hw done. Yeah, that would be the sweet life. I'm sure most people don't get 8 hrs. Can you imagine how much different the world would be if we did? I'm sure it would be a lot better. People would be sharper, happier, less grumpy, more motivated, and have faster reflexes. As it stands now, most of us walk around at least somewhat tired most of the team, which is not cool. Anywho, I guess that's all I'll say for now. Later.

Sin Deeper Than Skin

There is a sin
That goes deeper than skin.

It goes deeper than bone
And into the zone
Where you alone
Cannot get it out.

And for now, even the Spirit,
Though He descend like a dove,
Cannot or will not
Make us pure love.

So we groan for the day,
When Christ will say
"Rise!"
And we finally put away
This old, dusty frame
With its ancient shame
And leave it to rot where it lies.

And whether poetry or prose,
I dare not suppose
That I could even begin
To describe our new clothes.

But what I can pen
Is the end of sin,
Even the one that goes deeper than skin.

Empty Fullness vs. Satisfaction

"The righteous eat to their hearts' content,
but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry." (Prov. 13:25)

It's hard to be righteous and resist temptation. It always seems like there's some great satisfaction waiting for us on the other side of sin, but when I think about how I feel when I sin, I wouldn't call it satisfaction at all. It's comparable to eating bad cafeteria food. The food may look delicious at first sight, and it may even taste good going down if you're really hungry. But once you've finished eating it, even though you're full, you're not satisfied. It's sort of an empty fullness, a fullness that leaves you wanting. Then suppose right after you finish, some truly good food was set in front of you. You would want to eat it because you're not satisfied with what you already ate, but you can't because you're full. You can't eat the good food because you're too full of the bad food.

On the other hand, righteousness is comparable to the truly good food. Once you eat it, you're not only full but also satisfied. Not only do you not need any more food, you don't want it either. You can't want what you already have.

To summarize, being full on sin makes it very difficult to hunger for righteousness, and being full on righteousness makes it very difficult to hunger for sin.

So here's something that I thought of a few days ago. Actually, I'm not sure if I thought of it myself, or it was a word from God. Regardless, when it entered my mind it really touched me. I was thinking about prayer, and the thought came to me that when we fail to pray on a regular basis, it's NOT like we're refusing to pick up the phone and call God. I mean, that is one analogy one could give, but I think it's a lot more like the phone is ringing already, and God is on the other line, and we're refusing to pick it up.

I'm sharing this not to make people feel guilty about not praying, but to convey the idea of just how persistently God is trying to communicate with us, and the fact that he ALWAYS takes the initiative. He is always the one making the call. Jesus said that no man can come to him unless the Father draws him. We cannot be the initiators. Was it AT&T who had the slogan "Reach out and touch someone"? The thing is, it is impossible for us to "reach out and touch" God. But then again, we don't need to because the phone is constantly ringing. All we have to do is pick it up.