[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22814]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Reverend Dr. David Shibley, President, Global Advance, Dallas, 
Texas, offered the following prayer:
  ``Our fathers' God, to Thee, author of liberty, to Thee we sing. Long 
may our land be bright with freedom's holy light. Protect us by Thy 
might, great God our King.''
  Eternal Father, we acknowledge, as President Lincoln said, ``the 
sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all 
history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.'' We 
humbly affirm that ``unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in 
vain who build it; unless the Lord keeps the city, the watchman stands 
guard in vain.''
  May You be our defense, and may You grant to this Congress Your 
wisdom and compassion. May the Members of this great House, their 
families and staffs experience the joy of knowing You and walking in 
Your ways.
  Forgive us when we have tried to govern independent of Your will. 
Grant us the moral clarity and moral courage that will make us a 
lighthouse to the nations. May we as a Nation and may these public 
servants be guided by Your Word and Your Holy Spirit.
  I ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who loved us and 
gave Himself for us. Amen.

                          ____________________