Old Camel Knees and Little Old Me, an article by Jon Petersen

Published: January 8th, 2009

I have this wonderful memory of being eleven and in America for the first time. We were back in Iowa on furlough from Japan, where I grew up. My dad took me to meet Mrs Vinding. She was an 80 year old Danish lady who'd been my grandmother's prayer partner and friend for all of my dad's childhood.  When we entered Mrs Vinding’s musty house, my dad asked her if we could see her knees (‘very weird’, I thought).  As she pulled up her long dress to her knees, I found myself staring at the ugliest, most deformed, calloused joints I've ever seen. They looked like camel's knees. My father simply explained that this saint had ‘wasted herself’ on prayer, her entire life.  

I’ll never forget Mrs Vinding’s parting words that day: "I will pray for you, Jonny, until the day I die."  As a result of that encounter, I got several years of serious prayer through the hardest period of my life until this sweet intercessor went home to be with Jesus. To this day I have a sense that my life is still being shaped by the legacy of those six years of prayer support from Mrs Vinding.

Mrs Vinding was not the first prayer warrior to develop such calloused knees. The Apostle James, the half-brother of Jesus, was actually nicknamed ‘Old Camel Knees’ for this very reason! Writing in the 4th Century, Jerome records that ‘James the brother of the Lord… prayed in behalf of the people, insomuch that his knees were reputed to have acquired the hardness of camels' knees.’
It was while reading a thrilling report from the 24-7 Campus America team recently, that I found myself transported unexpectedly back more than 45 years to that encounter with Mrs Vinding. 

Deep down, I guess I have a dream that she might represent our ultimate legacy in 24-7 Prayer. Not coolness. Not cultural relevance. Nothing particularly impressive. Just daily, painful and sometimes even ugly devotion to spending time in the presence of the Lord. Does that sound uninspiring? Well, I only wish I could take you back to see the joy written all over Mrs Vinding’s face. Her features that day told an eleven year old boy the whole story. In her eyes I could see beauty and in her presence I could sense the aroma of the Lord. A legacy worth the journey I'd say!  

Jon Petersen was raised in Japan, raised his own family in Amsterdam, and now lives high in the Rocky Mountains with his wife Mindy. From there, he traverses many nations encouraging 24-7 communities and mobilizing cities in united prayer. He is President of CityForce and the Sponsor of 24-7 Prayer in North America. Jon loves sushi and secretly dreams of one day driving his very own snow-plough.

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