Prayer Call

Since Northern Ghana is primarily Muslim, the adhan, or prayer call rings out five times a day. The calls are recited by the mosque's muezzin in Arabic, even though few speak that language here. They are also very loud, going out over cone-style speakers attached to all sides of each mosque's minaret, the Islamic equivalent of our church steeples. Since there are numerous mosques in the village Seed Ministry is located in, and since Muslims follow strict times for mandatory prayer every day, when one muezzin starts up it seems they all do. This results in a cacophony of sound. Only occasionally can you make out the traditional "Allah Akbar" (God is great).

I suppose these prayer calls could be seen as a source of irritation for those who have no faith, or a distraction to those like myself who believe in the Jewish/Christian God versus the God of Islam. Personally, I've adopted the strategy of using the local prayer calls as my own reminder to stop and pray no matter what I'm doing. After all, the main purpose of the loud prayer calls five times a day is to bring God to the forefront of every believer and non-believer's mind within earshot. I figure why not use that reminder to bring to mind my own faith in God. No, I don't wash up, or spread out a prayer rug, or even face east like my Islamic brethren. Instead I just pause wherever I am and pray my own prayers of thanksgiving, supplication, intercession, and praise.

I suppose everyone bumps into things practically every day that could be viewed as sources of distraction, or even irritation. Let me encourage you today to turn whatever irritants or distractions you are facing, whether they are something as exotic as a prayer call in a foreign land, or something as mundane as you can't get a signal on your cell phone right this second, into something powerful and useful for both yourself and others like prayer. You'll be glad you did.