Today we should pray.

With all the hatred I see on TV, hear on radio and see in online conversations between friends of differing opinions I am troubled and I fear for the futures of my children and grandchildren. I remember a nation like ours, strong and prosperous, where the people mindlessly followed those who espoused and motivated hatred against fellow country men who differed with them. I always wondered how so many intelligent human beings could follow and endorse the acts of genocide and murder committed by Germany in World War II.

Today I listen to people like Rush Limbaugh and I am a little afraid. When I see the hired guns at these political rallies screaming at respected men and women who opened the floor for community discussion about health care, I start to understand and I see how it could happen if we do not stop and return to being civil, polite and agreeing to disagree. Today the leader of our country is censored, libelled, slandered and told that he cannot, as other Presidents have, address our children and grandchildren about the importance of education and the love and hope that is there for them to fulfill their dreams.

If ever there was a time to pray, today is that day and I ask each of you at 12:15 pm today, to stop what you are doing, pull off the road, stop in the store, sit still in the office and wherever you are, pray together.

Let us pray in the words of Jesus:

"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen"

Then let us return to our lives and remember his words and let us turn away from the hatred that divides us and work together for the glory of God and not the glory of men.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:15-17

Let the money changers in our state governments, our Congress, our banks, insurance companies and stock markets remember this and think on it today. Let us think what Jesus would do and not what a businessman would do.