[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18694]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The guest Chaplain, Bishop Eddie Long, offered the following prayer:
  Father we bless You and we honor You for the unconditional love You 
show to us. We bless You for the mercy You have bestowed upon us and 
for the overflowing grace given us each day. Father, allow us this day 
to have the courage of David as we face those who wish to destroy our 
moral fabric.
  O Lord, bless this Senate to have the patience of Your servant, Job, 
as they carve out a rational solution to eradicating the harshness of 
terrorism. We ask You to move now throughout these hallowed walls and 
use these men and women to rid our world of the evil scourge of 
terrorism. We pray now for the President of these United States. Give 
him wisdom and understanding. Let him have the endurance of a lion as 
he bears the ultimate weight of providing for our national security; 
grace him with the tenderness of a lamb as he nurtures our Nation from 
the wounds inflicted by the barbaric. We also pray for the commanders 
and the soldiers who may be sent into harm's way.
  We also pray, Father, for the families of those who lost their lives 
as a result of the horrific acts which took place on September 11. 
Lord, we further our prayer for those who were wounded on that day and 
for the souls of those who exited this life. We pray Your grace on the 
rescue workers who have not ceased their efforts to bring normalcy back 
to our Nation. It is our prayer, Lord, that as we, the United States, 
seek Your face, You will truly hear from heaven and that You will 
comfort us in Your miraculous way; that You will wipe the tears from 
this Nation's eyes and that You surely will heal our land. We offer 
this prayer up to You, understanding we are hard-pressed on every side 
but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not 
abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.
  In Jesus' name. Amen.

                          ____________________