Just for fun I decided to start offering a monthly freebie. Each month I’ll issue a call for something different: photos of prayer beads, a new prayer bead devotion, your stories, etc. I want to have more opportunities to interact with y’all! Those who participate will be entered into a drawing for the monthly prize, which will be something related to prayer or prayer beads.

To kick things off I wanted to give a shout out to the great state of North Dakota! What do I know about North Dakota? Not much. But between its tourism website and Wikipedia I learned that:

  • North Dakota is the 39th state in our union, though that seems to be up for debate. Apparently, North and South Dakota were welcomed into statehood at the same time, however, President Harrison could only sign one proclamation at a time. To avoid any appearance of favoritism, he asked his Secretary of State to shuffle the proclamations then randomly hand one to him to sign. It is not known which proclamation was signed first, but because of the alphabet North Dakota ended up being listed first, so it was labeled the 39th state. Obviously, South Dakota is the 40th.
  • The word “Dakota” derives from a Sioux word for “allies” or “friends.”
  • North Dakota is a gorgeous state featuring both mountains and plains. I have always wanted to visit the Badlands.
  • North Dakota grows more sunflowers (one of my favorites!) than any other state.
  • Their state dance is square dance and the state beverage is milk.
  • North Dakota has the most churches per capita of any state, as well as the highest percentage of church-going population in any state.

Why the shout out?

Following the tidal wave of response to our Prayer Workshop on prayer beads in The Upper Room devotional January/February 2013, we experienced a surge in orders for prayer beads. Just for fun, I began tracking where the orders were coming from. There were many from other countries such as Ireland, Finland, Australia, and Germany. But of course, the majority came from the United States, where I’m based. And guess what? We received orders for prayer beads from EVERY state except one. Can you guess which one?!?

No prayer beads in North Dakota?!?

So here’s a shout out to North Dakota: we’d love to send prayer beads your way! If you know someone in the Roughrider State, please invite them to visit our Etsy shop. If they purchase something, we will send them AND you the official, limited edition set of the A Bead and a Prayer Bead & Book Gift Set. The Upper Room made only 500 of these sets, which include both a copy of my book and a prayer bead  chaplet. And I have the last two sets! They will go to the people responsible for the first order from North Dakota.

For this to work, please ask your North Dakotan friend or family member to place your name and email address in the comment section at checkout. I will then follow up with you to get your shipping information. That way, you will both receive your sets!

Grace and peace to our North Dakota friends, and to all of you. Kristen

 

The North Dakota Challenge Prize