I am not a big tennis fan, but it was hard not to notice the media attention last weekend when 19-year old Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam victory at the U.S. Open. She is now the #3 ranked female player in the world. Also, from all indications, she is a solid Christian believer, who has openly professed her faith in Jesus Christ. 

That's what made a tweet by ESPN's SportsCenter Twitter (X) account all the more interesting after her historic win on Saturday. The tweet showed a short video of Gauff going to her bench, kneeling on the ground, crossing her hands in front of her face, and then bowing her head and closing her eyes--in an obvious posture of prayer. However, below the video, the best the ESPN social media writer could come up with to describe the scene said, "@CocoGauff took a moment to soak it all in after winning her first Grand Slam title."

On the one hand, it is a sad commentary that someone would either be that unaware that they wouldn't recognize someone praying, or they were so determined not to acknowledge prayer that they went to those kind of verbal gymnastics to describe it in such terms. Our increasingly secular world just doesn't know how to handle the things of God, or someone talking to Him--unless of course it's in the sanitized generic realm of "thoughts and prayers."  

On the other side, it was funny seeing how Christians on Twitter handled the "cultural misappropriation" of prayer. Some were indignant, as if they would be surprised that ESPN would speak of prayer in such a way. But most had a good time. Some of the responses I read included:

"The soak it all ins of a righteous man are powerful and effective."

"One of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to soak it all in.'"

"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place and there He soaked it all in."

"Therefore, I tell you, whatever you soak it all in, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

You probably recognize those Bible verses, with of course slightly different wording to fit the misguided SportsCenter tweet. And even in the silliness of social media, it was good to see Scripture--and reminders about the importance and power of prayer--flooding the Twitter-verse. 

More than anything, it was a wonderful testimony by Miss Gauff, that her first response to such a monumental win was to stop and acknowledge and thank the Lord. When asked what about her kneeling after the match, she said, "I was just saying thank you," and then explained how the Lord had taken her through many "tribulations and trials" to bring her to this point. As someone tweeted, what she was doing was actually the opposite of soaking it all in. She was giving it all up in thanksgiving and gratitude to the Lord.

And we can laugh at the jokes, and roll our eyes at ESPN for not recognizing prayer, but if we don't practice prayer ourselves, we're not much different than they are. Prayer is not just something we believe in, if we don't practice it. It's not a religious duty, or something we repeat, or even what we only do when we have a desperate need. It is vital part of our relationship with God, and to neglect it is essentially "practical atheism," as someone has said. Thus, we spend our lives "soaking it all in" instead of talking to and communing with our Heavenly Father.

My prayer for each of you is that you recognize the importance of "praying without ceasing," as the apostle Paul wrote, and practice it accordingly. I have never met anyone who regretted their time spent in prayer, and you won't either. 

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

--Pastor Ken