With the mountains of snow and the exchanging of gifts, many of you probably missed that the health care reform that was (according to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell) “sprung” on the Senate after years of debate on the issue finally passed.  To get it open to a vote, the Democrats had to override a filibuster effort by the minority Republicans which takes sixty votes (as opposed to a simple majority).

Last week, when it became clear that this was going to–barely–happen, Oklahoma’s junior senator called in a prayer request to the nation:

What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can’t make the vote tonight. That’s what they ought to pray.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I will assume that Senator Tom Coburn was wishing car trouble, or a happy family emergency (such as the birth of a child) that would keep a voter in favor of ending the filibuster from appearing.  In the Christmas season, one would be crazy to accuse the politician/Baptist deacon of wishing ill upon anyone, right?

As it turns out, he probably should have been a little more specific.  Not only did he fail to instruct people not to ask Jesus for smiting, he also forgot to ask the prayer chain to specify which political party should miss.

Continue reading ‘A Christmas Miracle: The Power of Prayer’