STORMY WEATHER . . . NOT AGAIN!

I have often heard stories about General Patton. I knew someone who served in his tank corps. One famous story is about his request for a prayer from a chaplain. Here’s how Msgr James H. O’Neil tells the story.

“The incident of the now famous Patton Prayer commenced with a telephone call to the Third Army Chaplain on the morning of December 8, 1944, when the Third Army Headquarters were located in the Caserne Molifor in Nancy, France: "This is General Patton; do you have a good prayer for weather? We must do something about those rains if we are to win the war." My reply was that I know where to look for such a prayer, that I would locate, and report within the hour. As I hung up the telephone receiver, about eleven in the morning, I looked out on the steadily falling rain, "immoderate" I would call it -- the same rain that had plagued Patton's Army throughout the Moselle and Saar Campaigns from September until now, December 8. The few prayer books at hand contained no formal prayer on weather that might prove acceptable to the Army Commander. Keeping his immediate objective in mind, I typed an original and an improved copy on a 5" x 3" filing card:

“Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.”

It’s a good thing I wasn’t the General’s Chaplain or I would have been court-martialed and maybe shot.  I have absolutely no success with religious matters and the weather.

I first became aware of the problem almost 20 years ago. A family at my church in Miami asked me to bless their new house. I was delighted to do so. I don’t get to do a lot of house blessings. I blessed the house, and all were quite pleased. Four weeks later hurricane Andrew swept through and demolished the house. Not a good sign.

This week I was reminded of my limited abilities. I was invited to give a devotion at the start of a work day at a Habitat for Humanity build. That’s a wonderful program that I encourage people to look into. This week a team from the University of Pittsburgh were working. I came up with a clever idea of using a scripture from Genesis about Noah and the ark. That should produce a puzzled reaction for most people. Why would you tell the story of Noah? These people weren’t building a boat. Ah, but neither was Noah. You see, an ark is not a boat; it is a box. Indeed, when you read the description from Genesis there is very little that is boat-like about it–no rudder, no tiller, no sails, no oarlocks. Instead the description is more like a house–walls, roof, floors, interior rooms, a door, a window.  What Noah builds is a house, albeit a floating house. Now you go into a floating house on faith. There’s not a lot you can do to control it. And so life should be lived in faith. And a house should be built in faith. I thought it was a clever approach.

I concluded with a prayer blessing everyone. Casting an eye at a darkening sky, I included a petition for favorable weather. I was pulling away in my car as the first drops of rain fell. As the day progress the rains got harder, the winds picked up, and tornado warnings were issued. Such is the curse of my prayers for blessing.

I’m scared to death to pray about the weather. I could probably cause a typhoon in North Dakota. Every once in a while someone will ask if I can do something about the weather. I always reply, “I’m just in sales, not in management. You’ll have to talk to the Boss.”

Whatever your way, may it be filled with many favorable days. And may the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne






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