This book is appropriately named. Pete Greig, the author, talks about prayer in everyday language, using stories from his own life and stories from Christianity’s heroes such as Corrie ten Boom, Dwight L. Moody and George Mueller. I love the question Corrie ten Boom posed about prayer, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

One of the points Greig makes is that many of us try to make prayer too hard. We think we need to use sophisticated language and pray at least an hour a day. Greig claims that we should start off easy. Pray using your own vernacular and pray for a few minutes at a time, several times per day. We should use things we enjoy during our prayer time, like music.

Greig talks about educationalist Frank Laubach’s take on prayer. He compared praying to, “Throwing rocks in a swamp. Each rock sinks without a trace. The exercise seems pointless. But keep going long enough, keep throwing those rock and the swamp will eventually be filled. One day a rock will be thrown that will not sink.” An excellent comparison is made to prayer.

Greig endorses the practice of praying for the little things, like parking spaces. Ironically, I heard a vapid preacher preach about praying for parking spaces. I wondered if God really cared where we park our cars. It seemed hilarious to me that we should pray for such things. I think Greig would slap me upside the head for that! He makes a great point about praying for parking spots. He writes,   “When we pray for places to park, we become the kind of people who worship God for a patch of concrete outside a supermarket on a rainy Saturday in January.” Touché, Greig. If you are interested in reading How To Pray: A Simple Guide For Normal People, I have a couple of extra copies. Ask and ye shall receive.