Dear Editor:

In early February, I met a friend and fellow golfer on the second fairway. He is a surgeon and minister at a local Christian Church. I told him that my wife (who had been on dialysis for six years) had missed out on a new kidney because it was compromised. He took my hand, and we prayed for Karen.

Just one week later, the Mayo Clinic called, Karen got her kidney on Feb. 10, and she is doing well. I saw ‘Doc’ last week on the fourth green, thanked him and told him what had happened, and he said another prayer for both of us.

The next day, I took Karen to the podiatrist, and on a whim while waiting for her, I set up an appointment for my annual pacemaker check. This past Wednesday, they told me that my battery had just weeks left, and that if the pacemaker stopped, my heart would stop. The next day, they had a sudden cancellation, and they replaced my pacemaker with a new one. If I had passed away, Karen would then have no one to take care of her during her recovery.

I firmly believe that faith in God, and the amazing power of prayer had everything to do with all this. Regarding God and our troubled but still-great nation, the French philosopher and historian Alexis de Tocqueville wrote nearly two centuries ago:

“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

Phil Molvar

Southport

and Saint Marys, Georgia