The sign read, "Cancer-ward ­ Third Floor." I walked up the stairs, acknowledged my presence at the nurse's station and entered through the swinging doors.

I had expected a quiet, sterile, almost somber place, but the ward was teeming with people. Concerned family and friends were entering and exiting the patient's rooms and were milling around in the hallway. Many were frantically seeking help for their loved ones, willing to consider any promise of healing that might be proffered.

What caught my attention above all, though, was the long line of persons standing at the "Push-button Band-aid Dispenser." Concern was written all over their faces. Fidgeting anxiously, they could not wait to get to the dispenser. There was a sense of urgency; time was of the essence. In went their coin; out came the band-aid; and they hurried back to the patient's room.

   This struck me as quite incongruous. Why are they putting band-aids on cancer? Do they not understand that cancer is caused by mutant cells and generally requires more radical means of treatment than covering exposed sores?
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   The cancer-ward of this world is also full of people suffering from the cancer of sin. Whenever that cancer breaks through into physical expression, family and friends often run for the quick-fix dispenser.

They insert their urgent prayer requests: "Please pray for so and so ; they are real sick; please pray real hard!" Prayer becomes the last-minute, push-button technique, with a desire to see an immediate covering on the open wound. This is often no more than putting a band-aid on cancer; it may cover the sore for the sake of the on-lookers, but it does not solve the problem.

   God wants us to pray and to express the concern of our heart to Him. God answers prayer! But our prayers must be more than going to the "push-button band-aid dispenser."