I cringe inside every time I hear it and at the fact that I have said it: “Let’s pray so we can eat.” For so many, prayer has become an awkward nuisance of a mealtime formality to get out of the way so that we can get on with our meal. And we use prayer this way with other occasions, too - to get on and get finished. Prayer is little more than an opening invocation and a closing benediction - something to set the tone and send us on our way.

In a fiery flash, Paul Walker’s life tragically and sadly ended when the Porsche Carrera GT he was riding in smashed into a light pole and burst into flames, killing him and the driver, Roger Rodas. The 40 year-old Fast & Furious franchise star no doubt was not planning on dying that 30th day of November when he got out of bed and got ready for his Reach Out WorldWide charity event at the motorsports shop Always Evolving in Valencia, California, showing off his fast cars and collecting toys for kids in disaster areas. Little did he know that his last second on this earth was rushing at him far faster than that sports car was moving when it fatally hit that light pole, ripping him away from his 15 year-old daughter and his friends.