Summary: It was, and perhaps still is, the most perfect prayer I have ever heard. And it came out of the mouth of a six year-old boy. His mother told me about it soon after it happened. They were at a local swimming pool and her son was standing at the deep end, his toes curled over the edge. Still unsure of himself in the water, he stood there for what seemed to her like a very long time. Hesitating. Meditating. Palpitating. And just when it seemed that he was going to back away from the edge, he looked up to the sky, put his hands together, and said: "O Lord, give me skills or GIVE ME GILLS!" And he jumped. Give me skills or give me gills. That pretty much covers all the bases, doesn't it? O Lord, give me what I need to overcome what I'm facing; but if you won't do that, give me what I need to endure it. Give me skills or give me gills. I have kept that prayer handy over these years, and it's surprising how often I have used it. But maybe it shouldn't be. In his book Hustling God, Craig Barnes, now the new president of Princeton Theological Seminary, wrote this about the Christian life: "...your calling is not primarily to accomplish something, but to serve God who will always lead you to places where you are in way over your head."[i] Barnes is reminding us that God has a habit of tossing us into the "deep end" of life. O Lord, give me skills or give me gills. Our reading from Second Kings finds Solomon in way over his head. His father is dead. He is now the head of his family. He is grieving. He is afraid. He is carrying a heavy load. He's no longer swimming in the safety of the shallow end of his childhood. With one swift toss, Solomon is headed into the deep end of adulthood.
