Dick Barber is chairman of the local National Day of Prayer event. He is a partner in the Morris Insurance Agency in Washington.

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Throughout history, mankind has sensed or known that a higher power is at work in our lives. Communicating with that power is called “prayer.” People of every nation and faith pray to God as a reflection of their relationship with Him, believing that prayer makes a difference.

We are currently living in a world turned upside down. The economy continues to be weak, our morals are in decline and the general health of our country is in peril. Where will the solutions come from? Who can we trust? Is there any reason to be hopeful? During our nation’s short history, times have been much worse. We know from journals and diaries that Gen. George Washington resorted to prayer at Valley Forge when facing an overwhelming enemy, a harsh winter and little hope for success in gaining independence from England. On March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation expressing that “the civil war now desolating the land, may be but punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptive sins.” He designated April 30, 1863, as day of “national humiliation, fasting, and prayer” in the hope that God would respond by restoring “our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.”

In 1952, members of the House and Senate of the United States Congress passed a joint resolution (bipartisanship can happen with prayer) for an annual National Day of Prayer, “on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.” That same year, President Harry S. Truman became the first president to sign a bill proclaiming a National Day of Prayer. In his 1983 declaration, President Ronald Reagan said “from Valley Forge to the present, this nation has fervently sought and received divine guidance as it pursued the course of history. This occasion provides our nation with opportunity to further recognize the source of our blessings, and to seek His help for the challenges we face today and in the future.”

My question to every reader of this newspaper is: “Do you believe that prayer makes a difference?” If your answer is yes, then join in one or more of the prayer services this Thursday sponsored by the National Day of Prayer Task Force. The day begins at 6:45 a.m. with a complimentary breakfast and time of prayer at the new Wesley Hall located at Washington’s First United Methodist Church on the intersection of Gladden and Third streets. The Rev. Danny Allen, Pop Paige and the Methodist Men are preparing the venue and the breakfast. The food will be excellent, the prayers powerful and my hope is that we have more people for breakfast than these hospitable folks can feed.

We are encouraging the youth of the community to come and participate. We will wrap up the service and breakfast by 7:30 a.m. so that everyone can get to school or work on time.

At 11:15 a.m., the Beaufort County Committee of 100 is hosting a prayer service at the Civic Center. The committee’s primary mission is to help create more and better jobs in our county. We believe that prayer makes a difference. The service lasts approximately 35 minutes and precedes our regular monthly meeting.

At noon, Mayor Archie Jennings kicks off the main event at the Municipal Building located at the intersection of Market and Second streets. Public officials, ministers and laity from several of our local churches will lead us in prayer. This annual call to prayer has been taking place in our community for decades, thanks in part to faithful people like Sis Belle Thornberg and Flora Belle Brown.

I hope to see you at one of these venues, but if your schedule does not allow you to participate, then I invite you to pray often whenever and wherever you can for the following: our government and elected officials, our schools and churches, families and children, the poor and hungry, our troops, the economy, the cultural community, the media and, finally, spiritual unity and moral commitment. Your prayers will make a difference, and I thank you in advance.