Bending Angel

Prayer to Forgive as God Forgave – May 1, 2022

May 1, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Forgiveness is hard. I bet you know someone who wears bitterness towards someone like an additional layer of tight-fitting invisible clothing. It is unseen until resentful words are spoken or the unforgiving person makes the kind of facial expression those feelings show.

There are others who hold onto their resentments as a way to prop themselves up, to anchor themselves on the hill of self-righteousness, to shield themselves from self-examination or from processing the origin of those feelings. Such persons profess to be devout Christians and thank God in prayer for forgiving them of their sins; thus, insuring them eternal life. Yet, such persons seem oblivious to what Jesus would have them do.

These generalizations belie the fact that all Christians are flawed like you and me. That most of us struggle every day to understand, to forgive others and ourselves, and to love as Christ loves everyone including the embittered and unforgiving in our world. Amidst those who are incapable of forgiveness, you and I see someone do a God thing, an unfathomable loving forgiving act that only a saint could perform.

As a collaborative divorce attorney, I witnessed such a moment I will never forget. Without using names or the exact details here is what happened. My client, the husband, had an addiction to secretly seek out sex partners while his wife was out of town on business. He spent thousands of dollars each year on prostitutes. He even brought the prostitutes to the marital residence to have sex with him on the bed in the couple’s master bedroom. After years of such behavior, the wife unexpectedly discovered what her husband had been doing behind her back. She was shocked and devastated by her husband’s betrayal and breach of trust. To others, this couple had it all together. They were successful and well-respected in their community and their church.

At our first collaborative divorce meeting with the couple and the attorneys, I was very apprehensive as to what my client’s wife would say to her husband. How could she even sit in the same room with him? How could she talk respectfully to him? You could’ve cut the tension in the room with a butter knife.

Then, the God thing happened. The wife looked into her husband’s eyes. She said,” Right now I am angry at you. I am bitter. I want to get revenge for what you have done to me. How could you have done this? Did it ever concern you of the horrible example you have set for our kids? However, I am going to treat you in the divorce as Jesus would. It will take time. I need space from you. I know you are ill. You have an addiction. Jesus would not treat someone who is sick with bitterness but with love and forgiveness. I pray that you seek professional help for your addiction. I have said my peace. Now, let’s get on with the divorce as best we can.”

The husband as well as myself and the other lawyer were wet-eyed. We had witnessed almost what could be described as a miracle. God’s forgiveness saves us from death. Our forgiveness of others and ourselves enables us to live and love more richly and deeply in our fallible frail lives. This God thing is part of the Easter message, isn’t it?

The power of the wife’s forgiveness coupled with her husband getting help resulted in an amicable and peaceable divorce. The parties have remained friends and great co-parents of the children for many years after this powerful exhibition of forgiveness.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about forgiveness.

Proverbs 17:9
Love prospers when a fault is forgiven but dwelling on it separates close friends.

Colossians 1:13-14
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, when I am living each day of the blessed life You have given me, I am sometimes overwhelmed by feelings of resentment toward another. These bitter feelings are as close to me as the clothes I wear. Resentment separates me from others who need my mindful, loving presence.

God, in Your mercy, please help me to give up my resentments and heal through your generous grace. In that way, may I love others more deeply and be more present to serve them in the glory of Your name.

Dear God, in prayer please silence the bitterness in me for a wrong that should have been forgiven long ago. Because You forgave Mankind for our sins, I pray You can show me the way to forgive others as well as myself for the wrongs I have done. Amen

If you like this prayer, please share.

If you want to purchase for yourself or a friend a copy of Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love or Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation or Divorce, please click here to go to Amazon.

Jack H. Emmott is a Senior Counsel of Gray, Reed & McGraw, LLP, a 145-lawyer full-service firm in Houston, Dallas, and Waco, Texas, a Board-Certified Family Law and Master Credentialed Collaborative Law Professional Divorce Attorney, Mediator, Author, Entrepreneur, and Inspirational Speaker. For more information about Jack or his latest book, Bending Angels: Living Messengers of God’s Love, go to the Bending Angel website.

Prayer for Those Who Give Us Earth Day Every Day – April 24, 2022

April 25, 2022 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

Last Friday was the celebration of Earth Day. God gave you and me this beautiful blue planet as a gift. Like every gift, it must be treasured. Respected. Loved. Nature must be nurtured and cared for. Otherwise, we lose it.

One of God’s stewards of Nature who gave you and me Houston’s Memorial Park was and is my great-grandmother, Catharine Mary Emmott. Catharine Mary’s birth made possible the creation of a magnificent space of green, wood, flower, water, and oxygen to breathe in a world too full of concrete, brick, and steel.

Rather than writing a new post about Catharine Mary Emmott, I am reposting one I wrote a few years ago about her. Not only do I celebrate her Priceless Legacy, but I also celebrate all those who do their part in conserving the treasure God gave us when the Earth was created.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about conserving and appreciating Nature.
Psalm 24:1
The Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.
Psalm 65:9
You care for the land and water it; You enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I thank You for all living things and for the pleasure, beauty, and wonder in Nature.

God, please help me to be responsible for the world and to take care of the Earth. May I love and care for this beautiful planet as You care for me.

God, may I know that each of the little things I do to keep the Earth green and healthy demonstrate my appreciation of the gifts You have bestowed upon me.

God, I thank You for conservationists like Catharine Mary Emmott and all other private and public citizens and governments who have helped establish local, state, and national parks and who have put beauty above profit and love of nature over indifference to Your blessings. Amen

Remembering One Who Remembered, Catharine Mary Emmott, the Mother of Memorial Park, A Priceless Legacy.

In September 1887, as a young single woman, my great-grandmother, Catharine Mary Taylor, set sail from the Port of Southampton, England on a ship bound for Galveston, Texas. Having graduated from the London Conservatory of Music, and with the goal of marrying her childhood sweetheart, John H Emmott, she at age 25 left all her family and friends behind to begin an amazing adventure. To live a life that would ultimately lead to the establishment of a memorial for our country’s fallen World War I soldiers.

After surviving a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and 25 days at sea, her vessel came to the Port of Galveston in October 1887. On October 22, 1887, John H Emmott married her at Trinity Church, Galveston. The ship’s captain gave the bride away.

Around the turn-of-the-century, Catharine and John built their home pictured here at 4505 Washington Ave. John died in 1914 of pneumonia. In 1917 Camp Logan was established. Catharine began renting rooms in her home to the wives of soldiers stationed at Camp Logan. Catharine and her gracious hospitality were very comforting to the wives of wounded soldiers recovering at Camp Logan and to the wives of soldiers soon to be headed to the killing fields of France.

Catharine’s son, Army, as a teenage boy, made his way daily to Camp Logan and earned money polishing boots of the soldiers and caddying for the soldiers who played golf. The original 9-hole golf course helped the wounded soldiers recover from casualties of war as part of recreational therapy. In addition to renting rooms to the wives of soldiers, for over 20 years Mr. Arthur D. Unkefer, the first Manager/Greens Keeper at the golf course, rented a room at her house.

Catharine was an avid golfer. In fact, she was the first woman to tee off there with her dear friend Mayor Oscar Holcomb. Pictured here is Catharine at Camp Logan (now Memorial Park) in her golf attire with her wooden shafted forged St. Andrews golf clubs.

Memorials don’t just happen. Someone has to start a flame that catches fire in the hearts and minds of others. In this case, when Camp Logan was being deactivated and sold to developers in 1923, Catharine wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper calling for the creation of a park to honor our country’s WWI soldiers.

Catharine Mary was asked to Chair the Memorial Park Fund Drive Committee to raise money and work with others to secure the land to be used for the Memorial. Her initial vision was for a park of 100 acres. As a result of her work and others with Warner Realty owned by Will and Mike Hogg, 875 acres were sold at cost to the City for the park. An additional 630 acres were secured from Reinerman Land Company. The resulting Memorial which Catharine intended for 100 acres became more than 15 times the size as envisioned by her, a total of 1503 acres.

Today, let us honor all American soldiers for their sacrifice to preserve America’s liberty and freedom, and peace in the world. But, the remembrance of them does not happen without those who do the remembering. The ones who did as Catharine did to bring about a Priceless Legacy, a legacy that is not just a place to golf, jog, play tennis or eat at Beck’s, or commune with nature. But, a place to honor those who gave their lives for us.

The large, comfortable, two-story house on Washington Avenue is gone. So are the over 30,000 soldiers who trained at Camp Logan. So is the trolley which took people to and from the Camp Logan entrance near the current roundabout at Washington Avenue and Westcott Street. Catharine Mary and her son, Army, are no longer living either. But for generations to come Memorial Park will honor and remember our soldiers because Catharine remembered them and worked tirelessly with the Mayor, the American Legion, war mothers, civic leaders, women’s clubs, the Chamber of Commerce, churches, the newly created Harris County Historical Society, and with numerous gatherings in her home to create the Park in memory of those who sacrificed so much for us.

If you want to know more about Catharine Mary Emmott, the Mother of Memorial Park, visit Emmott Circle at the Houston Arboretum. Additionally, at the information desk, you can ask to read a book about her and Memorial Park entitled, Memorial Park, A Priceless Legacy.
Today, we honor all our country’s fallen soldiers. But, let us also remember those who remind us to remember our fallen soldiers and give thanks for all the memorials across America that exist because of the perseverance, wisdom, and vision of those like my great-grandmother, Catharine Mary Emmott.

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Prayer for Life to Follow Death – Easter, April 17, 2022

April 16, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

I had hoped that I could go home for Easter. Instead, I woke up in the same hospital bed I had slept in for 8 months at age 6 with polio.

A nurse came into my hospital room. With an encouraging smile, the nurse said what she thought was exciting news for me. She said that today was the big celebration of Easter at Hedgecroft Hospital.

All of the children like me would have a designated volunteer to push us in wheelchairs and rolling chaise lounges to hunt for eggs and candy. To top things off the Easter Bunny would be there to meet us in person.

The nurse tried her best to improve my spirits. But what she related was not Easter to me. Easter was searching for colorful eggs with my mom and dad and my sister and brother. Walking on my own two feet. Carrying my own Easter basket full of green grass and jellybeans. Dressing up in Easter white clothes my mommy sewed. Going to church with my nuclear family of faith. Listening to the choir and the beautiful sound of my mother’s voice singing hymns. Joining my grandparents, 22 aunts and uncles, and numerous cousins for the Emmott Family Easter Egg Hunt in the middle of our 100-acre wood.

The nurse bathed and fed me. Put on my best pajamas and lifted my 6-year-old body into the rolling chaise lounge. The nurse was followed by an attractive female volunteer whose sole mission was to make the event as light-filled, happy, and memorable for me as possible.

Despite my volunteer’s smile and exclamations for me to look at the decorations, at the other children hunting for eggs, and shaking the Easter Bunny’s soft gloved hands, I never smiled. I did not utter a single word. Instead of being on a chaise lounge, I might as well have been on a surfboard riding on the wave of the ocean of tears I shed that day.

Instead of standing at the foot of the Cross, I was the one being crucified by polio. How did I get there? Why was this happening to me? Why had I been abandoned? Why weren’t my mom and dad there? What remained of my innocence and life before polio died that day. My life was over.

What remained of me was in a tomb that held my wounds, my grief, my despair, and my pain. But what happened after that Good Friday-like day at Hedgecroft Hospital was followed by an Easter Sunday-like miracle. God transformed that time of death for me into a new and richer life. Just as Christ’s own crucifixion and death on Good Friday were followed by His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven. The five wounds of Christ were healed as I was healed. As I am continuing to be renewed and healed to this day. A day at Hedgecroft decades ago that today I can share as part of God’s Good News. That life truly begins with a death of sorts. In Christ, life follows death.

God’s love, in prayer, in the care received from my parents, my doctors and surgeons, my educators, and my church moved the stone away from the tomb which held all the things I lost with polio. This is the same tomb that now holds the dead, wounded, and maimed people of Ukraine, the divorced and widowed, the sick and infirm, the hungry and the homeless, and those in hospice care at the end of their earthly lives. Even my death and yours are not the ends of our lives. It is just the beginning of our new and deeper spiritual lives in Heaven with the Father of all of us.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about life resurrected from death.

Luke 20:38
Now He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him.

John 5:24
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, I thank You for the birth, death, and resurrection of Your blessed son, Jesus Christ.

I thank You for the forgiveness of my sins.

God, please open my faithful eyes to see the opportunity to live a deeper and richer life in You in the death of things and others in my world.

God, help me know that life begins with the death or loss of something and that one day my own death will be transformed into eternal life and love by You. Amen

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Prayer for All Children of God to Flower in His Kingdom April 10, 2022

April 11, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Yesterday, Dorothy, Ellisa, and I took a road trip to Brenham to see the Bluebonnets on a perfect blue-sky Spring day.

It’s always nostalgic to drive past Cy-Fair High School from which I graduated back in the 1900s.

I grew up with the children of parents named Jones, Huffmeister, Telge, and Hegar. I thought of them as I passed the roads named after them. Those roads are paved with many memories. The names on the street sign exits off Highway 290 lead me back to my schoolmates and their parents who shaped this country land, land which is now covered with steel, concrete, and a few manmade lakes lined with modern homes and brick fences.

The Nine Bar Ranch has been covered by shopping centers, restaurants, and the Outlet Mall. The rice farms, like the one Zora Brown’s father owned, are blanketed with houses all of which look the same. Hot Wells is no longer the place to swim, eat, party, and dance. It is now a gun club and shooting range. Soon, I heard that it too will be sold to a developer.

Weiser Airport is no more. Concrete pads have become runways for tilt-up walls to support commercial warehouses and office buildings.

This area was once on the far west outskirts of Houston. Now, it looks like the center of a sprawling city. Much has changed in the name of progress. Houston has flowered and grown into something different than it once was.

In spending time with Dorothy and Ellisa on our drive to Brenham, we saw magnificent bluebonnets. Their beauty cascading down the slopes on either side of the highway and over the rolling hills of ranches and farms that reminded me some things never change.

The bluebonnets are gone after a few weeks and return every year in similar magnificence and beauty.
To conclude our outing, we broke bread at my cousins’ fabulous restaurant Brossa’s Cibo e Vino on Market Street in Brenham. I am posting a photo of our lunch together.

God is like the return of the bluebonnets each year. God does not change. But we do change and need to grow spiritually too. God returns to us when we need Him in prayer. We return to Him for help as we struggle and grow in our walks of faith. That relationship is beautiful as well. It mirrors the beauty and wonder of the Texas bluebonnets.

Another thing that does not change is the joy of a grandparent in taking a grandchild on a trip to see the bluebonnets along Highway 290. To see a grandchild frolicking among the bluebonnets swaying in the winds of April on a sunny April day.

It is my hope and prayer that I, our granddaughter, Ellisa, and all children of God continue to grow and flower in God’s Kingdom now and forever. We may all disappear in the cycle of earthly life like that of the bluebonnets. If we continue to grow in Christ and put our faith in God, I know our spirits will one day fully bloom and forever be a part of the beauty and wonder of His heavenly Kingdom.

God has spoken in Scripture about growing in his Kingdom.

Hosea 14:5-6
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

1 Peter 1:23-24
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.”

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer I thank You for the flowers of Spring especially the bluebonnets with all their beauty and glory.

I thank You, God, for all the beauty and glory of Your Kingdom which draws me nearer and nearer to You on the blessed earth.

God, may I turn my life and love to You as a flower turns to face You for warmth, strength, and light in times of darkness.

God, please help me grow and flower in Your Kingdom each and every day. In my death may I be risen to sit beside You in all the splendor and wonder of Your creation. Amen

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Prayer in Thanksgiving for the Promise of Spring – March 20, 2022

March 20, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Last Sunday, as I drove out of Spring Valley Village to celebrate our family Spring Break at Camp PawPaw, I saw that Spring had broken from the Earth. Following the hardship of the last two years of the Pandemic and the dreary cold days of Winter, the promise of new life was evident in the magnificent blossoms around me.

Behind the wheel, my thoughts centered on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Between death and loss. Between ashes in the earth and hope and life eternal.

I reflected on the death of my mother Lucile, 12 years ago this month and how she was such an exquisitely beautiful flower in God’s Kingdom. I grieved for the loss of her in the physical. But I knew that the love in her for me lives forever now in God and the Holy Spirit.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about Spring.

Deuteronomy 32:2
Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.

Hosea 6:3
Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.

Dear God, I thank You for Spring. It is a perfect reminder to me that I should be living a full life and leaving the old dead parts of life behind.

God, I give thanks to You for the promise of Spring–for in the cascading of bridal veil, in the glory of the blossoming redbuds, azaleas, mountain laurel, gardenias, daffodils, roses, and the sweet smell of wisteria blossoms, I am reminded that life goes on.

God, although every human life ends, including mine, there is a spring, a holy well. A resting place in which I too will one-day flower forever in the Glory of Your eternal love. Amen

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Prayer for Putin and for Peace — March 6, 2022

March 7, 2022 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

I have been watching BBC News and the coverage of the war in Ukraine, the death, the grief, the displacement of millions, the separated, the homeless, the mothers and children looking out the windows of despair at loved ones left behind, and the fear on the stark faces of Ukrainians who may soon be without a country. And have already become or may become widows, widowers, and orphans.

For two long years, the world has been infected with Covid. Millions have died. The war against it is not yet over. I wonder what the long-haul consequences of Covid are and how its victims and their offspring will be adversely affected for generations to come.

Now, in Russia, Ukraine, and the world people are infected and affected by another disease. That disease is seated in the heart of Putin. That disease is the evil inside Putin. His evil is like a tapeworm to the collective soul and consciousness of all people. Apparently, in good conscience, Putin has and continues to commit the unconscionable, hateful, and inhumane wrongs to countless children of the same God who gave Putin the gift of birth to live and to love on Earth. The picture posted with my prayer is of Putin in a Russian Orthodox Church. He is in a place of worship. He stands on Holy ground.

I am reminded of Pascal’s quote, “Evil is never done so thoroughly or so well as when it is done with a good conscience.” It is clear to me that Putin does not have a conscience or empathy for others who inhabit Ukraine or the larger world. The gravity of the evil inside him is so great it has suffocated his ability to love others or to feel remorse for the death and hardship borne by those who are the object of his indifference and hate.
Like many of you, I worry about WWIII, a nuclear holocaust. Warheads detonated by the spark of Putin’s evil. Similarly, the Holocaust, the killing of millions of Jews, was the result of the evil and hatred that started with one man, Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s evil infected thousands of Germans who followed his command.

I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Duck and Cover Drills at Dean Junior High. Worried parents. Prayers said to avoid destruction. My neighbors, the Sustaires, building a nuclear bomb shelter. I wondered if they would let me in if the worst happened. Of course, that was a silly thought. I knew there was just enough room for the Sustaire Family. Their shelter had no room for me and others.

In my weekly prayers, I usually focus on happier topics and even include some humor. But what is happening with Putin, Russia, and Ukraine is neither happy nor funny.

But the good news is this — The God you and I serve, and the God Putin should serve too is the God of love, the God of hope, and the God of salvation.

The good news is that the evil in Putin cannot kill God. That is because God’s love is far stronger and more powerful than Putin’s evil and hatred. Nuclear energy is no match for the Creator of everyone including Vladimir Putin.

Until there is peace, I ask that each of you please join me in constant prayer for God to address what we cannot accomplish by economic sanctions and providing military equipment.

God has spoken to us about being comforted and finding peace in times like this.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 16:33
I [Jesus] have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer I ask You to cover Putin with the precious body and blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

God, please shine Your Son’s healing light and love on Putin and those who follow his command to harm Your children.

God may Putin stand in the shadow of the Cross of Christ.

God, I ask that You and Your love vanquish the hate and evil in Putin’s heart and that others be shielded from harm in Ukraine and in Russia.

God, I thank You for watching over me and especially the Ukrainian people in their time of need of Holy Hope, comfort, and protection. Amen

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Prayer for Roy Rogers and All Heroes of Hope — February 27, 2022

February 27, 2022 by Jack Emmott 1 Comment

Last Friday in Cowtown Houston was Go Western Day. That morning parents hastily made sure their kids were adorned with cowboy and cowgirl attire fitting for their day at school. Today, looking out the window and feeling the cold breeze and gloomy drizzle sky that signaled that the Parade downtown, the Trail Riders, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo are here again.

My thoughts drifted back to my childhood days and to my Hero Roy Rogers. As an adult now I know there were many problems in the 1950s. Some of those problems remain unsolved after 70 years. Yet, at age 6 I held beliefs that Roy Rogers stood for as my true Hero. Firm beliefs I held then and even more firmly now despite polio and the losses in my life.

As a 6-year old boy, I believed that:
Life was simple.
Good always triumphs over evil.
People are mostly good.
Like heroes, I have a duty to care for and protect others from harm.
The end of something is always a new beginning.
Something good is always around the bend.
No matter how bad something is there is still hope, a way out of the darkness into the light.

Even if one could argue that my beliefs were and are not completely true, I chose to believe in their truth. Just as I choose to believe there is a benevolent God and His Angels watching over me and you every second of every day. Just as I believe that there is life after death. Even death is the beginning of a new life in Heaven.

So, just how fitting was it for me age seven to be on the stage with Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger at the Dads Club on Old Katy Road as I sat in a wheelchair paralyzed from polio. For a half-hour or so I sat next to my Hero Roy. My spirit was made stronger in the presence of who and what Roy meant to me. To be kissed by Dale Evans. To pet Trigger’s soft wet nose. This light-filled moment let me know that, although paralysis was dark and dreary, joy, hope, and wonderful things were still possible. So many bad things have been transformed by God’s love into good for me.

Roy and Dale were followed by other heroes in my life. The surgeons. The anesthesiologists. The nurses in the operating room. The therapists. The special education teachers. The orthotic doctors who fitted me with braces. The pulmonologists who gave me the breath of life. They all were fighting as my heroes to ensure that what the disease of polio intended for bad was turned into good. That the ending of my physical strength was just the beginning of a new, deeper more spiritual, and joyful life. That hope was not to be killed like the motor neurons in my spine were killed by the poliovirus.

I guess in some way my journey with polio with God’s help has been a hero’s journey too. It is my prayer that after I am gone like Roy, Dale, and Trigger that others will see and remember the goodness in me that I saw in them.

God has spoken in Scripture about the strength, perseverance, and love of heroes.
Galatians 6:9
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
John 15:12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Let us pray together.

God, in prayer I ask that You give me the strength and the perseverance to be Your hero to others in times of struggle, loss, or desperation.

God, may my strength and service to others be rewarded now and in the future as You have promised me in Scripture.

God, I thank You for being a great and good God, my God who is big enough to allow Your servants like me to worship You and still have living heroes to inspire and sustain us.

God, You are my armor of light. You are my everlasting hero on Earth and in Heaven. Amen

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Prayer for Pets Passing over the Rainbow Bridge – February 20, 2022

February 19, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

In talking to friends and reading Facebook I hear stories of people who have lost their pets. Photographs are posted on Facebook of their experiences with pets and the moments of final embrace of a beloved dog or a cat. The level of grief experienced can be as great as losing a mother, a father, or a child. You and I know that pets are people too.

I have written the chapter in my book, Bending Angels, about my first pet, a dog named Brownie. Brownie was presented to me by my grandfather. At age seven I had just come home from the hospital. I felt like I had lost everything. I was paralyzed. I felt as lonely and as abandoned by God as my bicycle gathering dust in the garage.

There was a big hole in my life and in my spirit which seemed bottomless. Empty. Broken. Without a destination to something good. But, at that moment my grandfather placed in front of me a galvanized bucket full of vegetables from his garden. He said, “Bubba, look in this bucket and tell me if there something in it you want.” Leaning forward and looking down in the bucket I saw a six-week old Cocker spaniel puppy mutt mix. The puppy had big round eyes which looked like saucers, saucers lapping me with love spilling over the edges.

I learned about God’s unconditional love from my dog, Brownie. Also, I first experienced the grief that is known in the death of someone or something I loved. I could describe more of that feeling with you in this prayer. But, this week I choose not to.

I follow a column, Sean of the South. This column shows up in my inbox to start my day. The author posted a column this week entitled, All Dogs Go to Heaven. Rather than posting my experiences with the life and death of Brownie, instead I share with you this Sean of the South article. When you read it be prepared to laugh hysterically and then use a Kleenex or two at the end of the article. Here is the link to the article.

https://seandietrich.com/all-dogs-go-to-heaven/

God has spoken to us in Scripture about our pets.

Job 12:7
But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.

Revelation 5:13
And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer I thank You for my pets through whom I have received Your love, compassion, and care.

God, I know that I am imperfect. But, I am so blessed to get to know Your unconditional love for me from my pets.

God, please help me take good care of my pets. I know that I should love them and care for them as You do me.

God, please help others open their hearts and their homes to pets who need to be adopted and have been abandoned by others.

God, I look forward to being reunited with my pets who have crossed or will cross the Rainbow Bridge to the place where I, my loved ones, and Your creatures great and small will live together forever. Amen

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Prayer to Know and Show What Love Is on Valentine’s Day and Every Day – February 13, 2022

February 12, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here for Jack’s song, “What Is Love?”

Those of you who are part of my prayer community have read my prayers which often touch on love–giving it, receiving it, sharing it, and knowing what it is.

It is hard to imagine a life truly lived without it. One cannot stress enough the importance of love and the harm to every person who does not receive it, especially at critical times; times I call Prayerful Passages. When death, loss, tragedy, or illness strikes. We need love then more than ever.

You and I have spent a lifetime learning what love is. It is in you and me. It magnificently shines from the lips and hugs and the little things children do. It happens when we pass it on to others. Pay for the coffee for the next car in line at Starbucks. Make donations of clothing at Goodwill. Write a personal letter of condolence to one who has lost a loved one or pet. Just like God’s love, the number of things you and I can do to show our love to another is without limit.

One day my heart and yours will stop beating. But, our loving acts live forever in those we leave behind. Gifts of love are seeds of God’s love that grow in the hearts of others, generation after generation.

On Valentine’s Day, we celebrate love. We give love and receive it too. From school children giving cards and candy hearts which say, “I love you,” or to a special dinner, cocktail, flowers, and a box of chocolate to our special Valentine.

My Valentine card to you today is my song, “What Is Love.” My deepest praise to Stephanie Jones, lead vocalist, Brian Carrion, guitarist and accompanying vocalist, and to Brad Burks of Austin who added the lyrics and graphics to the video. Click here for the YouTube video.

On Valentine’s Day, I will be with my Valentine for life, my wife Dorothy. Dorothy means “gift from God.” Thanks to God and to Dorothy I know what love truly is. I get to celebrate love not just on Valentine’s Day, but all year long.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about receiving and sharing love.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Let us pray together.

Dear God, in prayer may I see all the gifts of Your love You have given me.

God, may I be forever thankful for receiving Your love directly from You and from others in my life.

God, please help me to honor and serve You by sharing my love, compassion, and care with others.

God, may I strive to love others on ordinary days and not just on Valentine’s Day or special occasions. For You love me because I am special to You every day of my life and one day in Heaven. Amen

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Prayer for Rocks of Faith, Ancestral Photographs, and Ancestors – February 6, 2022

February 6, 2022 by Jack Emmott Leave a Comment

Click here to enjoy Jack’s video version of this prayer.

I have always had a yearning for my Emmott family history in England and since they arrived in America in 1887. Also, I have been entranced by the stories I’ve heard of the families who lived near Emmottville.

As elsewhere in rural America, pioneering families came here from foreign lands to pursue dreams, marry, raise children and find happiness. They left everything behind them including mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters they knew they would never see again. They brought with them little more than a rock of faith, a strong work ethic, and hope for the best.

These ancestors were rugged, hardworking, and withstood floods, droughts, fires, disease, and pestilence to carve out for their descendants places to live, work, raise children and build churches. Churches to go to at times when there was nowhere else to go or to call home. No other place at which to be comforted by God in the face of death, crop failure, or tragedy.

Such was true for the Amish farmers who settled in Gum Island, Texas (now Fairbanks) in the 1800s. They had enough of floods, hurricanes, and mosquitos and left our area before 1900.

The Amish were followed by legendary Cypress-Fairbanks pioneering farmers, ranchers, and dairymen named Caesar, Swonke, Airola, Marietta, Francone, Jones, and more than 30 other dairymen who supported their families. They fed us. They set an example for us to follow not only in our time but for future generations.

Their stories are our stories. Their resilience in overcoming their struggles helped me in overcoming mine. The compassion I have for their disappointments and flaws enabled me to be more compassionate to others in my relationships within my own family. As with my polio, the fact that they survived hard times gave me courage to overcome the devastating consequences that polio and paralysis posed for me.

A dear friend gave me a copy of this 90-year-old treasured photograph of a school teacher, Miss Wichman, and her 17 students standing on the steps of the White Oak School House not too far from Emmottville. Next to the school stood a beautiful white wooden church with a steeple — the 1891 St. John Church. That church was relocated and now stands in Sam Houston Park near downtown Houston.

The problem with old photographs that survive the test of time and the elements is that seldom are the names of the people written on the back of the photo. But, thanks to Ruth Caesar, the beautiful girl standing to the right of her teacher, Miss Wichman, the names of every student appear. At Cy-Fair High School I went to school with the Swonke and Gabriel grandchildren of some of the students pictured here.

It is my prayer that this photograph reminds you of why faith and ancestral roots are important.

Learning their history, recording it, and preserving it is God’s blessing to us and all humankind. In the chaos, polarization, uncertainty, hardship, and death in the Pandemic, our ancestral stories give us roots to anchor us, to sustain us, and to reassure us that God has a greater plan for you and me. That is an innate need in me and probably you too.

God has spoken to us in Scripture about reverence for our ancestral spirits and the power of having a rock of faith.

Leviticus 32
Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.

Isaiah 32:2
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Let us pray together.
Dear God, in prayer I thank You for my ancestors who paved the way for me and future generations.

God, please help me learn from the lives my ancestors lived and thereby find wisdom and strength in the living of my own life.
God, may I find You and Your purpose for me in the example of my forefathers.

God, may my trust in You and in what my ancestral family overcame never cease. For with You whatever lies ahead for me and those I love will be seen by You through the lens of Your love for me and them. God, in 90 years from now, may my descendants see my love for You in how I lived my life and served You in faith with thanksgiving.

God, please grant to all of us the willingness and the spirit to spend time identifying family members and friends on the back of photos – especially old photos where the knowledge of generations will soon be lost. Amen

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