Sentinel Watch August 22, 2011 Issue

Prayers for wildfires

Jan Keeler

In a recent conversation with President Barack Obama, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer discussed the need for prayer for her constituents as they battled thousands of acres of wildfires in the American Southwest. Earlier, in a proclamation in April, Texas Governor Rick Perry requested that Texans pray for wildfires to be brought under control. He noted that “throughout our history both as a state and individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured, and lifted up through prayer; it seems only fitting that the people of Texas should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this devastating drought and these dangerous wildfires.” 

Prayer cuts across political and social boundaries. However, some skeptics mocked these comments, saying that the governors’ requests for prayer would be no more effective than all of us getting together to do a rain dance.

Our collective prayers can bring us to a point of spiritual understanding that nothing, absolutely nothing, is out of God’s, Spirit’s, control.