Prayer is, on the one hand, a personal matter. There is no one “correct” way to pray, so this offering of prayers is not meant to offer a model of how to pray. Prayer is, on the other hand, a communal matter. Jesus did, after all, teach us to pray to “Our Father” and not to “My Father.” When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms or other ancient prayers in a worship service, not only are all of us who are gathered in that place praying together, but we are also praying with many others who are praying those prayers. Indeed, we are praying with all those who have gone before us and who will come after us. Such praying connects us with the communion of saints. Perhaps, in a small way, those who choose to pray the prayers in this book will find, in the knowledge that others are praying them too, an enlarged sense of Christian community.

This book is a collection of prayers Ruffin composed after committing to write a prayer every day for one year. So, they come out of the author's experience, out of his life, and out of his pilgrimage. They are shared with the hope that they will somehow connect with your life as many friends have affirmed they have connected with theirs. Hopefully, there is enough commonality in human experience that my prayers will prove helpful in leading you to pray as you need to pray and in the way you pray best.