Yesterday was May 7th –  the first Thursday in May, the declared National Day of Prayer here in the great country that we live in. I was blessed to go to one event where we heard plenty of official proclamations from various elected officials, sung God Bless America to close, but more importantly we prayed. I then headed to my home church for a bit because we had an open invitation to come and pray.

I’ll admit I know plenty of prayer warriors who are a lot more faithful to do this and probably less partisan than myself. I should take more time thanking them not only for the intercessions they’ve made in my own life but those they’ve made on behalf of my family, our state and this country. These everyday heroes are the ones that generally also pick you up when your car breaks down, drop everything when you need it and love you unconditionally through the ups and downs of life. They are the spiritual backbone of America that makes this country run.

The other 364 days of the year including whenever this gets published, we need to do a better job of being focused on prayer individually and corporately. I say this knowing even today during the focused prayer times sometimes my mind was wandering, looking at my phone (and not always to look up Bible verses) and thinking about what else I needed to accomplish the rest of the day. I say this having forgotten to make the adjustment on my calendar earlier this week when my church rightfully changed the prayer time on Wednesday night, so folks didn’t have to choose between prayer time and cramming the $5 meal down faster.

We often get busy with life, family, business, friends, hobbies and even the critical elections like the ones we have here in Louisiana on May 16th but forget about how important this simple act of faith and courage is that prayer is.

This morning at that prayer gathering which was taking longer than I initially budgeted time for, I was about to leave early and then they asked all members of the media to stand up to be prayed for. I realized since I am a guest contributor here at the Hayride I technically qualified, so I stood up. Plenty of other folks who are involved in various forms of media also stood up. Folks that I didn’t know and I may never run across again until I get to Heaven stood up and prayed for me. It was at that moment I realized no one at the Hayride had written about National Day of Prayer and that I might need to be the one to do it.

Before I forget and end up writing another more politically driven column than this one, I want to take this time to thank all of you that read my columns and pray for me. I also want to thank those of you who encourage and pray for the others that write for the Hayride and other similar publications & media outlets. Finally, I want to thank those folks that quite

frankly I didn’t know that took the time out of the day to go to such a prayer gathering today and prayed for me and others. Your prayers are real, genuine and are felt not only here in Louisiana but beyond. Thanks for all you do!