Prayer Updates

Friday, October 30th, 2009

President to Meet with Military Advisors Friday
Today President Obama meets his top military chiefs to talk strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan in one of the final steps before deciding whether to send thousands more US troops to war. The president invited the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the heads of the branches of the US armed services, to the secure White House Situation Room to hear their input on his war plan and deliberations on troop numbers, officials said. He will hold the meeting a day after his poignant visit to witness the return to home soil of fallen Americans from Afghanistan, after which he said the heavy sacrifice of US soldiers was weighing on his decision-making. “It was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day,” Obama said in the Oval Office, hours after watching remains of 18 US servicemen flown home. “Obviously the burden that both our troops and our families bear in any wartime situation is going to bear on how I see these conflicts. “And it is something that I think about each and every day,” Obama said, after the visit to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Pray for wisdom for the President in his White House meeting with military advisors regarding management of the war in Afghanistan.

Report Overstated New Stimulus Jobs
An early progress report on the president’s economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports. The government’s first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money. But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs. An independent review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced. There’s no evidence the White House sought to inflate job numbers in the report.

Pray for the recovery of the nation’s economy and for those families that have lost their employment.

Predictions for Next Week’s Elections
As the next election looms next week, a few races are catching the attention of the nation. Analysts say the results of races particularly in Virginia, New Jersey and New York could provide some clues about policies for the coming year.

Pray for the election next week. Many key races remain up in the air and will make an impact on our national policies. Pray for the Lord to work through our elected officials.

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Prayer Updates

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

President Obama Meets with Families of Fallen

President Barack Obama made a midnight dash to this air base Wednesday to honor the return of fallen soldiers, absorbing the ultimate cost of war as the United States endures its deadliest month of the Afghanistan campaign. On a clear fall night, the president flew by Marine One helicopter to Dover Air Force Base to greet the flag-draped cases of 18 Americans killed in action this week. After landing, the president, wearing a dark topcoat, got into a motorcade to a base chapel, where he met privately with families of the fallen Americans. He had arrived on the base at 12:34 a.m. Thursday and returned to the White House before dawn. As part of the official party, Mr. Obama was to go on the plane, each time witnessing silently as a chaplain said a prayer for the fallen, the family, the country and the war effort.

Pray for the families of our soldiers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.

Off-Year Election a Key to America’s Direction

Once again America is facing off-year elections and the media is covering the polls of major races by the hour. The top races in the nation, as covered by the media, are the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia. Analysts are already passing their conclusions on to their readers as to how the polling results speak to the voter’s needs and attitudes in America. Yet there is also missing the civility of debating important issues in many races where personal weight rises to the top in sound-bites repeated over and over in political ads.

Pray for upcoming election next week as key issues and races will determine more policy and direction for our nation.

American Econonmy Flickers with Initial Hope

Just released figures show that the American economy grew at a 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter, the best showing in two years, fueled by government-supported spending on cars and homes. The Commerce Department’s report Thursday delivered the strongest signal yet that the economy entered a new, though fragile, phase of recovery and that the worst recession since the 1930s has ended. Many analysts expect the pace of the budding recovery to be plodding due to rising unemployment and continuing difficulties by both consumers and businesses to secure loans. Still, the much-awaited turnaround ended the streak of four straight quarters of contracting economic activity, the first time that’s happened on records dating to 1947.

Pray for the continued strengthening of our nation’s economy. Pray for the families who continue to face unemployment and struggle under the burdens of our devastated economy.

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