During my life I have had hundreds of occasions of peril and onset of life-threatening afflictions, and I have survived all the occasions using various levels of prayerful attitudes to help get through deadly or dangerous situations. These were varied, from bad accidents like train wrecks to firefighting mishaps while a Eureka volunteer fireman. Just the other night I heard the Newark mayor talk of his rescue of a trapped woman, which reminded me of fighting three house fires long years ago where my effort was always undermanned, and the chief and I were working on in the upstairs at Twin Rivers alone when he hit the hot spot with fog and the entire room turned to steam, and another at Times Beach where we were upstairs again and much the same thing happened where I broke out a window to get air. Then even seeing him when he was killed, hundreds of feet from the truck fire when the gas container blew and the end came up the road and picked him and his dad as it target. We had not time for prayer, much like the Newark Mayor, just time to do the best we could.
Or in the Marine Corps when a fellow Marine dropped a live gernade just inches from my head in training, and I survived, or as other Marines were killed alongside me, and I was spared. And our planned invasion of Japan, which would have cost 500,000 of us, and we would have killed a million Japanese, that wasn't needed because of the A-Bombing and surrender of Japan.
In an earlier Eureka-Wildwood Patch blog, I mentioned someone writing me to suggest we pray for a lady who is over 200 years old and really 236 this year. That is America and the thought was well received across the country.
But early this month, perhaps because I relay some of the things on in my blogs, I suddenly tuned in on a largely successful prayer service by Joel Osteen as he described several situations in his past that could only be approached by prayer. So right now, we have something like 7 billion people in the world who are finding the need for prayer, and Joel has developed a successful answer to a method which seems to be working for him and is also apparently working for me in my battle with lymphoma.
I had used the writing of blogs as a therapy because the study of my situation when good doctors sent me home to die when now last week my medical professional can find nothing really wrong with me but did adjust the small amount of medication which has offset the one disagreeable result that occurred, and I feel fine.
The Patch blog has given me exposure locally, and all over the world on Facebook and other outlets, and I have been exposed to others writing me because they need what I have learned in on way or another. Suddenly I have forgotten about prayer for myself, as my future is up to a higher power so my prayer will be to help all those who express a need to me, thus if I help their need, my needs will be helped in return.
My recent blog on Americorps brought a nice thank a current VISTA worker at Camp Wyman. In return I stopped by and due to a quick rain I cut my visit short, but I plan to do what I can for her in her efforts along with the other five comrades there, because they are just kids and need some help to succeed. The same day I received a request to fill an unusual need in a political field, and I have cleared this and have written to provide the help they need.
So with so many requests for help, this will be my new therapy, helping others so they might also help me, much as Joel Osteen in his turning a basketball stadium into his house of prayer where 42,000 come to hear him every week.
And the nice thing, it doesn't cost you or the government anything, and we begin working together. I get excited, just thinking about it. I watched the Cardinals opening day, and they had a wonderful day until the game started and evidently Pitcher Wainright was not up to par. Suddenly I am up to par, and believe I will get good mileage out of this approach to prayer, not for me but for helping others so they might help me.
And if it doesn't work, fine, because it has given me a positive activity to take part in for the rest of the year—and if it does, for several more years to come.