Author Archives: frdavid11

This prayer came on an evening as we had finished our transit across the Atlantic and were approaching Spain. We were scheduled to moor in Rota, Spain to refuel and take on supplies, but because of ongoing COVID-19 protocols we were not going to be allowed to leave the ship except to a limited areaContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 25 February”

This story I took from Mike Rowe’s book based on his podcast series, though I edited it a bit to make it shorter and added the moral and, obviously, the prayer. I like the story a lot and it lends itself to a good lesson, but I was afraid that the reveal wouldn’t be veryContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 24 February”

This one was fun, because I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “stupid” so many times in such a short span, and never in a story meant to teach a moral. Because of that, though, this prayer caused a lot of follow on discussions. Most Sailors have heard some version of the opening warning,Continue reading “Daily Prayer, 23 February”

It’s always irked me a bit that we eclipsed the celebration of both Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays with the more generic “Presidents Day,” as if all of the U.S. Presidents were as worth remembering the same way. And so for generalizing we lose specific remembrance of the great ones. So, I didn’t want the birthdayContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 22 February”

When I served as an enlisted sailor on submarines, once we got underway we set our clocks to Greenwich Mean Time and left them there until we pulled into port somewhere. I found that on a surface ship you couldn’t do that, because the sun remains a factor for their operation. So we often hadContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 21 February”

This is another story more dependent on the date than anything specific to what the ship or the crew were doing, but it’s a good story that not many people know about. Streets and buildings on military bases are named for people and things that are part of our history. The ships I served wereContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 20 February”

This prayer was read on Lincoln’s birthday, which was a regularly commemorated holiday when I was a child, though no one got the day off. No one had the day off on the ship, either, but I didn’t want the occasion to pass unnoticed. In the process I discovered the included gem written by LtColContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 18 February”

I’ve told this story before in other places, but it is one of my favorites so I’m sharing it again here as I did with my crew. We were at that time on our way across the Atlantic and toward our deployment station and nerves were on edge. To encourage their people officers in theContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 17 February”

This one is a little later than the date it was originally given, but close enough to still work. I updated a few things. It was a bit of a stretch for me because I don’t know much about tennis. In fact, growing up I can only remember being aware three tennis players, John McEnroeContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 16 February”