24 CityLight.org
june 2012
the ocean waves sang His praises with tri-
umphant rejoicing. Creator and creation
smiled upon a couple that had weathered
the storms of life...still in love and com-
mitted to God and each other. When love
and worship kiss, time stands still, and it
wasn't long until the pier was at hand. I
reluctantly prepared myself to relinquish
my prayer time to Joe. It was, after all,
his turn to pray. We got to the pier and,
like two soldiers marching in unison to
conquer the world,
pivoted to go in the
opposite direction.
Joe began to pray
and, at first, his
prayer mirrored the
prayer I had just
prayed for him:
"Lord Jesus, thank
you for giving me
this
wonderful
woman. She is the
greatest blessing in
my life. Thank you
for her love and sup-
port and continue
to give her health
so that our family will be blessed by her
prayers and wisdom." That's where the
similarity ended and the familiarity began.
It has been Joe's custom over the years to
pray for our children and grandchildren as
soon as he discovers that they are seeds in
the womb and, then, he keeps a daily vigil
for them. On this day, his prayer for the
born and unborn went like this:
"Lord, thank you for our children and
grandchildren. May they always love
and serve you and let you be the guiding
light in their lives. And Lord, thank you
that you have answered my prayer for my
children and have given them Christian
mates. Now, Lord, I pray for the mates
of my grandchildren, even the one that
is just now a seed in the mother's womb.
We don't even know if the new life in the
womb, our ninth grandchild, is a boy or a
girl, but please protect that little one. God,
please prepare a Christian mate for our
grandchild who will one day be a part of
our family. I squeezed Joe's hand in ap-
proval and agreement."
Suddenly, we noticed a few feet in front of
us, the beach was strewn with hundreds of
starfish that had seemingly miraculously
appeared. Joe could
not restrain himself,
becoming a little boy
again, picking up
starfish one by one,
and tossing them
back into the ocean.
"Joe, why are you
doing that?" I asked.
"Giving them an-
other chance at life,"
he answered.
He was so convinc-
ing that he could
save a few starfish
that I began to help him save the starfish
too. It was then that he began to pray a
fervent prayer for America.
"Lord Jesus, when the starfish get out of the
ocean, the starfish die. Our nation has lost
its moral compass and has implemented
polices outside of your will, and America is
gasping for breath. Our nation's very free-
dom is in jeopardy, and like the starfish,
America needs to be rescued. Please don't
allow us as a nation to become trapped and
enslaved by tyranny. For the sake of my chil-
dren and grandchildren and the children and
grandchildren of all Americans, please show
me if there is anything I can do."
The Anniversary at the Beach
By Gladys Grimaud | Continued from pg 6
"He was so convincing that he
could save a few starfish that
I began to help him save the
starfish too. It was then that
he began to pray a fervent
prayer for America."