The Power of Prayer
The following email was originally posted on August 26, 2018
Arrived home a few hours ago from a week long vacation in Kauai. Hawaii. As most of you know, for the past week, the Hawaiian Islands have been threatened by Hurricane Lane, a hurricane that, for a time, reached Category 5 status. On Kauai, there was great foreboding. After all, it was only in April of this year that Hanalei recorded over 50 inches of rain in a 24 hour period of time.
Arrived home a few hours ago from a week long vacation in Kauai. Hawaii. As most of you know, for the past week, the Hawaiian Islands have been threatened by Hurricane Lane, a hurricane that, for a time, reached Category 5 status. On Kauai, there was great foreboding. After all, it was only in April of this year that Hanalei recorded over 50 inches of rain in a 24 hour period of time.
The island has still not recovered from April's biblical flood but, nevertheless, Lane posed the potential of not only adding more water but also winds that would have been reminiscent of Hurricane Iniki
Hurricane Iniki virtually destroyed Kauai. Given Lane's potential such destruction was feared to be imminent again.
But, on Wednesday, my youngest daughter called me to inquire of my well-being. She wanted to know for certain that I was alright. I assured her that I was. My daughter, the one who in April received her platinum wings, then informed me that she was so concerned about the situation that she had assembled her co-workers -- her fellow angels -- to gather together to pray for me and those in the path of Hurricane Lane. .I thanked her for doing so, and assured her that I would be fine. But there were no guarantees.
While nothing indeed was guaranteed, over the next three days, something special did happen. The category 5 hurricane encountered some extraordinary wind shear along the path of its course. The wind shear seemed to slow down the hurricane and by Friday had begun to tear it apart. By this afternoon, the Category 5 hurricane had been reduced to a tropical storm and I was able fly home ... in safety.
What happened this past week has stayed with me in the wee hours since my return. I am very thankful that Hurricane Lane did not come to Kauai with its devastating force. But, perhaps just as importantly, I am thankful for the prayers of my daughter and her co-workers and probably the prayers of millions of others whose appeals to God appear to have been answered so that, for the most part, most of the Hawaiian Islands were spared the full wrath of Lane.
Somehow, I do not think that it was mere coincidence that the wrath of Lane was dissipated before reaching me. And so, on this Sunday, I do thank God for the mercy shown this past week ... and I, respectfully, reflect on and acknowledge the power of prayer.
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
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