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Well, then, Paul is in a whole heap of trouble with Our Lord.

• Romans 1:10 NAS always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

• Romans 15:30 NAS Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,

• 2 Corinthians 1:11 NAS you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

• Ephesians 1:16 NAS do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers ;

• Philippians 1:19 NAS for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

• Colossians 4:12 NAS Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

• 1 Thessalonians 1:2 NAS We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers ;

• 1 Timothy 2:1 NAS [A Call to Prayer] First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

• 1 Timothy 5:5 NAS Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day

• 2 Timothy 1:3 NAS I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day,

In these Scriptures, we see Paul praying for others and asking others to pray for him. Hence, it must not be too stupid a thing to do -asking others to pray for you- else Paul is a total idiot. And if Paul can ask someone like me to pray for him to God, I see no reason why I can't ask Jesus' mom to pray for me.

And, of course, lest ye think Paul was the only idiot, then there's James.

• James 5:16 KJV Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed . The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Assuming the woman dubbed by Luke as 'blessed among women' whom all generations shall call 'blessed' fits the bill for righteousness, then Mary would seem to be a wonderful choice to have praying for you.

(Hint: like it or not, I have no doubt she actually IS praying for you, as will I and I hope you do the same for me.)

42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come . 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come , he would have watched , and would not have suffered his house to be broken up . 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh . 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing . 47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods . 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming ; 49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken ; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of , 51 And shall cut him asunder , and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

-Matthew 24

1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 While the bridegroom tarried , they all slumbered and slept . 6 And at midnight there was a cry made , Behold , the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet him. 7 Then all those virgins arose , and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out . 9 But the wise answered , saying , Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell , and buy for yourselves. 10 And while they went to buy , the bridegroom came ; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut . 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying , Lord, Lord, open to us. 12 But he answered and said , Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh .

-Matthew 25

Sounds to me like you'd be on the outside where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Better to try to avoid those 'really bad days, sinwise.'

My daughter-in-law worked for them right out of college. If you feel called to give to them, I can assure you they do VERTY good work for the pro-life cause.

Steorts will right a column about how he tried to bring 'reason' and 'intellect' to the Right, but they were so mean to him he just had to leave the Right. The so-called 'mainstream' media will deem him redeemed for the column and offer him a slot at the NYT, WashPo, etc. and he'll spend the next decade as the house 'conservative' spending more effort attacking the Right than even mildly criticizing the Left and after a while he'll become fairly irrelevant to the national conversation as a whole. Think David Brooks or Kathleen Parker.

Eventually, he will suffer the fate of all the spineless, respected by neither side, penning books only his close relatives will feel compelled to buy but never read.

What the Chinese should have said:

"We didn't know anything about this until we read about it in the morning papers."

All of which calls to mind the opening scenes from the 1970’s classic, “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” Clark Griswold, planning on taking his clan cross-country to WallyWorld, goes to trade in his old car for a sleek, new car. Instead, he’s delivered the “Family Truckster” –a blocky, pea-green horror. As he argues with the saleman intent on making him accept the switch, the salesman remarks:

“You may think you hate it now, but just wait until you drive it.”