At our hospital we utilize lay people to be “Prayer Partners”.  These people are assigned to our Same Day Surgery, Cancer Center, and Outpatient Dialysis Units.  Their task is an important one but yet it is so simple.  They approach patients and ask if they would like to talk or have prayer as they are waiting.  Patients respond positively to these offers of support in these settings.  The reason this is a simple ministry for our volunteers is that they have a strong faith and are already comfortable meeting strangers and praying publicly before they are placed in this role.  This week we had a new person apply for this volunteer ministry.  It was exciting to see the volunteer explain the joy received in the process of praying for and with others.  In the past several months I had prayed for the spouse of this volunteer during the spouses inpatient admission and that encounter prompted the interest in being a Prayer Partner.  That is the great dynamic about ministry, when people experience it then they desire to be a part of it.  It is one of those things where the experience of the moment is much more powerful than simply reading a description of the moment like you are doing now.  I share this because it brightens my day when other people want to volunteer their time to help us provide pastoral care to our patients.