fun with prayer

I was thinking last night about a friend of mine whose loved one is facing significant health problems and sending a prayer their way.  As I prayed, another name popped into my head -- the name of a person I do not know, but for whom a fellow congregant has faithfully prayed during many of our Sunday morning prayers.  Okay, fine, Lord, be with them, too, I prayed.  Suddenly, it occurred to me (and Google will bear this out) that almost any name a person can randomly come up with refers to a person who actually exists!  What a fun way to pray!  I started making up names in my head.  Irving Johnson.  Norma Ryan.  Claudio Bertolli.  Trinh Nguyen.  Anthony Nkrumah.  Berta Schwarz.  Ignacio Montoya.  The possibilities are endless!  Perhaps this isn't the world's "deepest" way to pray, but I love the idea of praying for another person -- anywhere in the world -- just because he or she is a fellow human being with his or her own needs and hopes.