extraordinary success.  I know I can give freely of myself because in the economy of the Spirit, you always replenish my jar of oil.  I know when I am listening to you because your Spirit encourages me, points to the truth, lets me decide, and holds me accountable.  And somehow you always make it work out.  You provide the necessary resources; wisdom, strength, time, helpers, money, skills, and al the unanticipated things that I never could have planned for anyway.  More wonderfully, you redeem my mistakes.  You weave beauty out of my broken, mixed-up threads.... not for my reputation or ego, but for the common good.  Help me, God.  The people I lead feel even more uncertainty than I do.  They trust me, but they know I sometimes blunder.  I  have done all the analyzing, conferring, thinking, planning, double-checking, and praying that I have time for.  There is never enough information....  and there are always conflicting opinions and priorities!  I cannot sort it all out, but this is what seems best.  Is there anything else you want to tell me?  It is time to act.  I hope this is right for everyone involved.  Now it is all up to you.  I am not sure what to do, God, but here I go.  Please make it all work out right.  Amen.

Lights dim

(Cole's prayer is taken from the devotional, Leadership Prayers by Richard Kriegbaum.)