The power of prayer

TUE, JULY 25, 2017 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

When tragedy strikes, it’s easy to harden our hearts and cry out, “God, why did you let this happen?” May-be then, we started praying. Before, when everything goes smooth, we would not even think a minute about praying….

“To be a Christian without prayer,” said Martin Luther, “is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” Prayer is the only way of becoming what God wants us to be. This is the reason, why Jesus spent many hours in praying.

Unquestionable, our needs bring us to a place of prayer. Confronted with danger or tragedies, as I mentioned earlier, we look for God’s help. Difficult times always cause the hearts of men to turn to God into prayer.

Let me ask you: How long has it been since you brought your burdens to God? Since you asked His forgiveness for your shortcomings?

In his very interesting book “People in Prayer”, Dr. John White reminds us that prayer is a divine-human interaction and it is always God who takes the initiative. White writes: “God speaks and we respond. God is always speaking. To hear his voice is not usually a mystical experience. It consists merely of a willingness to pay heed to God who lays a claim to our lives.”

Yes, God always speaks. It is up to us whether we will listen and respond to Him. Many think we are the ones who initiate prayer. But prayers begin and end with God.

There was a time, I wasn’t in the mood to pray any more. It seemed that God didn’t listen my prayer any more. I didn’t get what I prayed for. Of course, not…! That’s not the meaning of praying to God. All my wishes will be granted? Heaven forbid!

Sometimes, after we have prayed, God’s answers may puzzle us. But as time time goes by and as events unfold, we see God’s purpose in His answers. We might get a larger vision, what HE likes. Not what WE like….

Think about it for a moment: How does the idea that prayer begins and ends with God affect me now? Do I have the habit of listening to God? How do I respond to Him? How do I usually pray?

I confess that long time ago I have been trying to persuade God to change other people in my surroundings or circumstances. Nothing changed. Of course not, what a fatal attraction? I got confused because God never granted my requests. Meanwhile I got God’s answers to my prayers. Maybe very simple: I was willing to let God change me…. This is how each one of us should start. Happy endings. Because I prayed according to His will….

Nowadays, I live a wonderful life in my second and last home, the Philippines. I never regretted to move here for good. I have everything I could ask for. I can do everything I wish to do. Thank you Lord for all the blessings.

Paper power

TUE, DECEMBER 6, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

Paper still matters, as I could learn from fellow Philippine Daily Inquirer staff writer Phyllis Korkki. Yes, paper still matters. The frequent whirring of printers in offices – despite the Internet, Microsoft Word, social media (I love Facebook and Twitter), scanners, smart phones applications and many much more – attest to that.

I am very much old fashioned in many things. I was still typing on an old manual typewriter, when my colleagues in different publishing houses used already electric units. I loved my antique typewriter. I love it till today. Yes, it’s still here in my office in Davao City. I can’t use it anymore, because no more ribbons are available in the Philippines. It’s okay. My electric typewriter is also here. Just beside the manual unite. Those were the days, my love… .

It has been sometimes at the end of the 1990's. I worked in an international publishing house in Berlin with branches in Amsterdam and New York. I still used one of those wonderful electric type writers – and tried to avoid vehemently a personal computer. Already during that time I needed to hold paper in my hands. Paper, says the productivity expert David Allen, is “in your face”. I strongly agree with David. He said, “Its physical presence can be a goal to completing tasks, whereas computer files can easily be hidden and thus forgotten. I am also returning to paper planners for this very reason. Please, don’t laugh at me, my dear readers!

David Allen, the author of “Getting Things Done”, does much of his writing on a computer. So I do meanwhile. But, there are still times when writing with a fountain pen on a notepad. It allows “us” to get “our” heads in the right place. When I tried to learn more from David Allen, I really got surprised, that we have many things in common. Old fashioned or not? I don’t care. Here are some facts:

Paper printouts serve an important function. For long texts, a print out can allow a reader to better understand relationships between sections and writings. Paper hand-outs are still a presence at meetings partly be-cause they are useful for taking notes. Reading a long document on paper rather than on a computer screen helps people “better understand the geography of the argument contained within, “said Richard H.R. Harper, a principal researcher for Microsoft in Cambridge/England and co-author with Abigail J. Sellen of “The Myth of the Paperless Office,” published already in 2001.

I also strongly agree with Sellen, saying, that using more than one computer screen can be helpful for all this cognitive juggling. But when workers are going back and forth between points in a longer document, it can be more efficient to read on paper.

How about “e-reading a book”? A novel, a drama, whatever? What do you prefer, my dear reader? You wanna know my opinion? I am sure, you can imagine. Yes guys, I still need a book in my hands for my leisure reading. I need to feel the book as well as I need to smell a fresh-printed newspaper. Environment savers might start jelling at me now, though I am one of them. So, where is the edge and borderline?

Paper can be indeed a luscious and beautiful thing – the way we savor fine food and wine, as Steve Leveen, co-founder and CEO of Levenger, said. People complain that writing by hand is slow (yes I am really!), BUT that can be good for thinking and creating! Here we are again!

Yes, it matters still: in defense of the power of paper! What do you think, my dear readers, while holding this newspaper right now in your hands?