Peer pressure is intense during high school making it difficult to be identified as a Christian.  As a self-conscious sophomore, abhorred with every pimple and constantly checking for bad breath or foul body odor, I wondered, what will my party-loving, dirty-joke-telling classmates think if I bow my head in silent prayer before a meal?  Should I drop my napkin and pray on the way up or pretend to have a one-minute headache?

This was the dilemma I faced when traveling with seven classmates selected from my high school for All-State Chorus and Orchestra.  Arriving in Huron, South Dakota the night before the two days of rehearsal, we went to a small coffee shop to get a quick bite to eat.  Though the place was nearly empty, the waitress was slow getting to us and seemed overwhelmed and confused as we placed our orders.  “A hamburger and a coke for me,” I said, hungry enough by this hour to chew on the menu.  After a long wait, she brought our food and served me first placing the hamburger and coke in front of me.  I lifted the top half of the bun and gazed with amazement at a burnt, shriveled piece of meat less than half the size of the bun—the smallest hamburger I had ever seen.  She turned to serve the other side of the table, and I bowed my head to say a silent prayer over this burnt offering.  The waitress had obviously never had a customer bow in prayer before their meal, and she turned back, saw my head bowed over the shriveled, puny-sized hamburger, and asked with total sincerity, “What’s the matter honey?  Can’t you find it?”  Side-splitting laughter erupted breaking the tension of the moment and relieving my awkwardness at praying before my meal.  Praying silently before a meal in a public setting was never a dilemma after that.