DENVER -- When gasoline hit $4 bucks a gallon in "The City By The Bay" last week, a local pastor called on folks to pray for lower gas prices. Some of us smiled at that story, some smirked and others may have thought "a lot of good that'll do!"

When do you pray (if you pray) and what do you pray for? Type in "prayer" in a Google search and you'll get 89.5 million hits. There are a lot of ways to pray, a lot of things to pray about and to whom you pray (if you pray) is a very personal choice.

Thursday, May 1, is designated as The National Day of Prayer. It's an annual observance created by Congress in 1952. It invites people of ALL faiths to pray for our nation.

Funny, the kinds of things many of us pray for on a daily basis:

Please don't let that cop catch me on his radar (one of my regulars!).

Please let my kid make the baseball team.

Please don't let this outfit make my ____ look fat.

Early Thursday morning, I'll be speaking at a church in Parker for the NDOP. I'll probably talk about my cancer scare, my faith and my reliance on prayer to help me through the challenges all of us face each day. It's a chance to encourage people to send up their petitions, thanks, heartaches and fears to lighten their daily load.

Having said that, praying for lower gas prices doesn't seem so whimsical!