A huge Chicago company is one of the world's largest magazine fulfillment firms. That means they handle subscription mailings by computer. Among other things, they send out renewal and expiration notices.

One day the company's computer malfunctioned. Soon after, a rancher in Powder Bluff, Colorado, got 9,734 separate mailings informing him that his subscription to National Geographic had expired.

This got the rancher's attention. He dropped what he was doing and traveled 10 miles to the nearest post office, where he sent in money for a renewal— along with a note that said, "I give up! Send me your magazine!"

There is something about multiple requests that brings answers. For reasons known only to God, that is true also in prayer.