Dear Karen:

It would behoove State Farm to study the havoc caused by people thoughtlessly praying for things without considering the repercussions. God, who is easily distracted and preoccupied with creating a new universe (this time, creating beings He actually likes), often answers prayers without much thought to the fall-out. I don't need to remind you of what happened when a scorned Sarajevo courtesan prayed for the Lord to shoot Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinan. And all it took was one spiteful Cambodian matron to be slighted at the local produce market and the next thing you know the whole country is wall-to-wall in skulls!

These are just examples from the past century. Look in the Bible for other, more shocking, examples, such as Noah's wife. She was angry at townspeople for making fun of her husband for constantly getting drunk and flashing them. A month later, the whole planet was under 30,000 feet of water!

That is why our Christian faith encourages prayers to Jesus. At least Jesus actually lived here and has a better sense for earthly consequences. When Jesus told us "Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you," (John 15:7) he naturally assumed we would use some discretion in the use of this carte blanche. It helps to think of Jesus as sort of a Darren Stevens (the cuter one in color) regarding our Samantha Stevens with bemused exasperation. He may grant your wish to have an American Airlines 777 skid off the runway and into your ex-husband's new Land Rover, but he will expect you to use a little more restraint on your next prayer.

So Close To Jesus, we sang "I Got You babe" at karaoke night at the town club last night,