Personally, I’ve never thought much for the idea of sacrifice, even from the Old Testament. It strikes me as a strain of primitivism that the ritualistic slaughter of an animal can expiate human sin.
But then, in the meaning of Israel, I argue and struggle with God quite often. It doesn’t devalue the overall validity of scripture for me in the sense that I sometimes see it as, say, the understanding of leprosy therein, which one would seem hard pressed not to recognize the fear of it then as primitively informed.
As for prayer, I pray mainly for others and very little for myself, knowing that God knows my heart, even at its most hidden levels. ...Except in the sense that your father seemed to understand it. “God, give me patience....”
All Good to You and Yours.
“God, give me patience....”
LOL! No - he explained that he would just pray. Thanking God, praying through all the people in his life, praying for strangers he would see while driving or waiting in line.
Although I’m guessing he prayed for patience many times too!