Prayer--the first line of defense

By Sheila Graham

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado--"We could see the Great Lakes, the Arctic Circle, the white of the snow, the brown of the land, the blue of the oceans. Everything else was black," Brig. Gen. Charles Duke said. "As the writer of the book of Job noted, the earth really is suspended on nothing."

Gen. Duke was describing how the earth looked as he spacewalked during the Apollo 16 mission to the moon. While speaking at the National Day of Prayer Coordinators Conference here Jan. 19 to 21, Gen. Duke also admitted he was the astronaut who exposed the Apollo 13 crew to the measles.

Duke believes in prayer. "There's power in prayer--power to heal, power to save, power to deliver," he said. "There's nothing too small or too big for God."

The theme of this year's National Day of Prayer is "Honor God." The 45th consecutive observance on May 2 is not a small thing. Last year, representatives of all 50 states and the governors of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands joined President Bill Clinton in signing proclamations to pray for the country.

Representing the Worldwide Church of God at the conference were Paul Butler, pastor of the Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Alamosa, Colorado, churches; Ronald Kelly, Pastoral Development manager; Sheila Graham, David Smith, Computer Information Systems manager; and Jim Turner, pastor of the Denver, Colorado, North church.

Mr. Kelly met Shirley Dobson, chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, and Jerry Homme, California state coordinator. He was impressed with the enthusiastic dedication of the NDP staff. "These people are sacrificing multiple hours of their personal time encouraging Americans to pray, because they love this country and they believe in answered prayer," Mr. Kelly said.

An article on the National Day of Prayer will run in the May-June issue. Tom Lapacka, director of Church Relations and pastor of the Pasadena church, has Ron Reedy, associate pastor, heading a committee to plan a local church activity on the May 2 observance.

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God,1996