Category Archives: Daily Prayers

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”

Superbowl week meant mining more football stories, which is fun for me since it usually ends up being an exploration into history. I feel it’s part of my duty on the ship as the oldest crewmember to inform the youngsters that things happened before they were born. Like this guy: Richard was born in Chicago,Continue reading “Daily Prayer, 15 February”

Helping young Sailors manage their separation from loved ones is a big part of any chaplain’s job, and one of the holidays that makes separation more acute is Valentine’s Day. To a new generation that has been taught to look upon history as a series of unfortunate events managed and experienced by fools, the ideaContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 14 February”

Some of the most fun I had writing these prayers was when I got to explore history. Finding something that happened on that particular date, and fleshing out a story. I tried to make them all stories with a moral lesson, but this one is just straight history, mainly because it’s U.S. Navy history whichContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 4 February”

Another poem and another opportunity to share with Sailors things and ideas for which, perhaps, they haven’t had much time or opportunity. It tickles me that I was allowed to broadcast poetry on the public address system on a warship. I don’t know how many young people read Robert Frost’s poems in school anymore, but,Continue reading “Daily Prayer, 3 February”

Ever since chaplains have gone to sea we’ve been expected to help offer education and training to the crew. Being what the Navy calls a “Religious Professional” I naturally include some religious education whenever I can, as I did in the following prayer. I updated the numbers, but left it otherwise unchanged, because I thinkContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 2 February”

One of the principle developments that helped the US Navy win the war in the Pacific during WWII was underway replenishments and refueling. Ships could stay on station longer because the gas station came to them. We’re still the only navy that does it routinely while underway. The skill came in handy for deployments duringContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 1 February”

Back to baseball. I really enjoyed writing baseball stories because, in addition to being my favorite sport, I could access baseball-reference.com from the ship, and there are so many stories in the numbers. This story comes more from the date, though it required some data research, and it illustrates a method I enjoyed using. IContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 31 January”

Because I have a captive audience when giving the evening prayer I try to respect people of other faiths and not make explicitly Christian references (Which is why Jesus’ name doesn’t appear in the prayers, though I find others of His names to use.) I also can’t take for granted that the Sailors listening areContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 30 January”

Before I was deployed with ships I pastored a small group of Orthodox Christians stationed in Okinawa, Japan, where we had our own dedicated Orthodox Christian chapel as part of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps facility there. Instead of daily evening prayers, like during shipboard life, I shared weekly devotional thoughts with my congregation viaContinue reading “Daily Prayer, 27 January”