Last week on Monday night one of the players for the Buffalo Bills football team collapsed on the field. His name is Damar Hamlin and he is only 24 years old. It was a tragic turn of events for the game. Almost immediately after he collapsed the medics were on the field doing CPR. They rushed him off the field in an ambulance and took to him to a nearby hospital where he remains in critical condition. The event was so tragic for the players and coaches, that they called off the game immediately. You may have seen this story on the news recently, but what’s being talked about even more than that is the spiritual mentality of the sports world surrounding this event.

All of the players on the field got together to pray after the incident. Some of the most famous athletes in the world tweeted that they were praying for Damar Hamlin. Even a talk show host on ESPN stopped and prayed for Damar Hamlin on live television! All my Facebook friends have been posting and sharing that they are praying for Damar Hamlin. It has been remarkable to see how many people are looking to God for help and answers in times of tragedy (which is another lesson in itself).

I don’t want to make light of Hamlin’s situation AT ALL. He is in serious condition, and urgently needs prayers. People ought to be praying for him! But what I have a hard time wrapping my head around is why we don’t rally behind anybody else to pray like this. Why don’t we rally around the people we actually know who need prayers? If the world can pray so fervently for someone they’ve never met, surely we can pray fervently for the people we see every week!

As I said, I don’t want to make light of the situation. Hamlin and his family need prayers. But don’t forget about the people on our prayer list who are sick, who are struggling, who are battling diseases, who are worried about diagnoses, who have lost loved ones, who are fighting off satan, who are lost in sin... these people fervently need your prayers too.

I want to challenge you this week (and every week) to not only pray for Damar Hamlin, but also for our prayer list (it’s right next to

this article). Try it now!