``It all began when my wife and I made a promise to pray for each other at 3 o'clock every day. I kept forgetting to do it,'' said Alan Wostenberg, who is Catholic. ``So being a computer guy, I programmed a machine to send a reminder psalm to myself and my wife every day.''
Soon, friends and family started asking if they could join, too. Over the summer, he began marketing the service through religious newsgroups over the Internet.
The service is available at psalmweaver.com, although the Web site was inaccessible at times Thursday. Wostenberg attributed that to technical troubles.
Wostenberg charges $19.95 for a year of daily psalms, plus a $4 setup fee. The service can be delivered to e-mail accounts as well.
Peter Droege, executive director of an interfaith organization called the Solidarity Institute, signed up about two months ago. He said he wanted a reminder to pray for friends who are unemployed.
``At first I hear the beep, and it seems like an interruption because I'm busy,'' Droege said. ``But then I realize there are a lot of people who are seeking work.''
The selections follow the Roman Catholic Church's daily schedule of psalms. Wostenberg said he sends a shortened version to accommodate the limitations of text messaging.
Noting that many cell phones and pagers already carry stock prices and news headlines, Wostenberg said people should also get ``the Good News.''
