Lloyd Ogilvie tells of a father who knelt down to tuck his little boy into bed. It was time for prayers and hugs. The little boy began his childhood prayer which he had repeated so many times before: "Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." On this night, however, the words got mixed up and the child inadvertently spoke words of the greatest wisdom he would ever know. He prayed: "If I should wake before I die. . . ." Then he stopped in embarrassment and apologized, "Oh, Daddy, I got all mixed up." Wisely, his father responded, "Not at all, son; that is the first time that prayer was properly prayed. My deepest longing for you is that you may wake up before you die."

Let's talk for a few minutes about waking up before we die for, indeed, some of us are asleep in some of the most critical areas of our life.