Today’s lessons are about prayer.   In our first lesson, Jacob is worried about meeting up with his brother, Esau, who has vowed to kill Jacob for cheating him out of his inheritance.   Jacob has already sent his wives and flocks on ahead, and is alone at the fords of the River Jabbok.  There he encounters a man—actually God in disguise—with whom he has a wrestling match.  Jacob is determined to get a blessing before he lets go of the man, because he wants to escape Esau’s wrath. [You might call this wrestling as an athletic form of prayer!]  That indeed happens when Jacob goes on to meet his brother, and all turns out well. Prayer answered.  But, something else comes out of that wrestling match even more important: God changes Jacob’s name to “Israel”, which means “one who has striven with God.”  Jacob realizes that he has met God face to face.  This is not exactly what we think of as a prayer, but honest prayer can involve wrestling, so to speak, with God to discover God’s will for us, and the blessings connected to it.