Remember to observe the National Day of Prayer

As a teenager I watched a religious film and was intrigued by the idea that mountains can be moved by prayer. I was orphaned early in life and was living at a Boys Ranch with about 400 other homeless and/ or delinquent young men. After the evening chapel service, a buddy and I were walking the mile or so back to our dorm, and we decided to put the idea to a test. We had to walk so far because a large hill, what passed for a mountain in West Texas, stood between our dorm and the main campus buildings. So, after asking God to remove the mountain and cast it into the sea like the Bible verse said, we looked up eagerly to see if it “worked.” We were disappointed but not totally surprised that the pesky pinnacle was still there. We kept hoping for several days, but soon went on to other youthful issues of life. No harm, no foul. Flash forward, 20 years …

I had continued growing in my faith and my wife and I had been serving as missionaries in Europe. While home on furlough, visiting family and friends, and speaking to churches and groups about our experiences, the Boys Ranch chaplain invited me to speak to the boys. So, one Sunday we preached and sang at my old home, then had lunch in the dining hall, after which the dorm parent of the home in which I’d lived asked if I wanted to tour my old dorm. I assented, of course, and we got into his car and started the drive to the dorm. As he was describing all of the new buildings and developments, I became fixated on one major change — our mountain was gone!

“Wait a minute,” I said,

“what happened to the huge hill that was right there?”

“Oh, it was dynamited and removed years ago to make room for the new gymnasium,” he explained. The tons of dirt and rock were used to divide a very large lake into four sections, he told me.

I interpreted that to mean that our mountain had finally been removed and cast into the sea.

Thursday is the National Day of Prayer. Our modern-era, annual National Day of Prayer began in 1952 with a joint resolution by Congress, signed by President Harry Truman. In 1988, that law was amended and signed by President Ronald Reagan, permanently setting the day as the first Thursday of every May. Each year now, the sitting president signs a proclamation, encouraging all Americans to pray on this day. At state capitols, county courthouses, on the steps of city halls, and in schools, businesses, churches and homes, people stop their activities and gather for prayer — all voluntarily and with no government expense.

Now, let me tell you why, on Thursday at noon, I will join others to pray at San Antonio’s Main Plaza. It’s not to make a political statement, nor is it simply because our leaders ask, though I’m glad they do. I pray to move the “mountains” of mass murder at American schools and the human suffering caused by poverty, diseases and sickness, crime, political scandal, unemployment, divorce, hunger, teen pregnancies, child abuse, abortions, natural disasters, injustice, abandonment and abuse of the elderly, fraud and deceit at every level, and last but not least, vulgarity. I pray because my God invites me to cast my cares upon Him, and because He promises to hear and answer my cries for mercy, grace and blessing. He did it once, and His promise still stands. And I won’t forget to thank

God for a country where I’m free to publicly express my faith in Him.

Contributor file photo Councilman David Medina Jr. and Mayor Julian Castro attend the 2010 National Day of Prayer with Soapy Dollar.