[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 24574]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  Lord God of history and our eternal destiny, be with us today and 
guide us every step of our journey as persons and as a nation.
  In response to Your call Abram was led from place to place until Your 
promise was fulfilled. He never doubted Your presence and always relied 
on Your guidance.
  As the man of faith journeyed, he often stopped to offer You thanks 
for the latest accomplishment and petition You for the future. 
Scripture tells us: ``He built an altar to You, Lord, and invoked You, 
Lord, by name. Thus Abram journeyed by stages toward the Negeb.''
  If it is in stages You lead people of faith, let it be with us. Grant 
us measured patience as we face stages of growth and spiritual 
formation in life.
  You alone, Lord, know our limitations and our full potential. Whether 
it is stages of war, economic stability, or stages of human 
understanding or painful loss we undergo, may we persevere. Whether it 
is in the process of law or in building a new world order, help us to 
move through each stage by faith, placing all our trust in You, O Lord, 
both now and forever.
  Amen.

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