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-By Philip Wesley-
-Posted May 28, 2007-
Dear God,
Thank You so much for all the weird blessings this year. The people are the biggest blessing and I want to thank You so much for them. The first one that I would like to thank You for is the most personal one, and since it is personal: You know who I am talking about and I will leave that to the mysterious mysteriousing of the readers. (Even if it is painfully obvious in every single way.) It's wuv and I need Your help every single day and night of A-Kon to continue in that ideal.
The second big blessing I want to thank You for is my completely adorable niece Zowie. While I may have a few differences in opinion in life than the two "people" who ushered forth her existence. I look forward to being "Uncle Philip" for a long time, and spoiling her with attention. I can not wait until she is old enough for me to introduce her to books, Nintendo, anime, and silly internet memes. If Bethany does not read to her, I certainly will. Thank You God for that.
I want to thank You for my family. My sister Sarah with all her talents and food nerdiness, please grant her a more direct nature, my mother with her bleeding heart compassion that blooms so beautifully like a rose; but cuts so deeply with thorns. Grant her a calm mind and a soothed nature. My father, the part of my family and my mind that will not grow up. Please grant him a better view of lines and tactics. I want to thank you for the Glass family, I may not be able to go visit them for E3 this year; but I will try for PAX, or E for All, or the Media Summit next year. I miss them terribly and my year is not complete without them. I want You to protect them this year as well and guard and keep all the friends I made over the last seven years of E3 and the years of A-Kon. Yes, even the ones that do not like me as much as I enjoyed bashing their games.
This Thursday morning, I -and a few odd travelers- will depart in a Van of Holding (+16) toward the rain spattered Dallas, Texas. Grant us all safety on the road, safety in the hotel, out of the hotel, on the way back, and in the upcoming school year. Deliver us from falling glass light tubes, mean security, wicked elevators, racketeering vendors, colds, flus, and slippery floors. Please bless those who will not be there at A-Kon this year.
Please bless all of our troops who are all over the world in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Qatar, or dangerous places like New Jersey. Guard and keep them safe. Encourage them in doing the jobs they volunteered to do. It may seem redundant to ask for the safety of our troops; but they do the work You would have them do. Despite everything said about them or the legitimacy of their missions; You see fit that they have an impact. May they be good people, and good examples of Your love, compassion, and sturdy correction. You know that wars are started with bombs, bullets, and bayonets; but are ended by Bibles, buildings, and bread. Please soften the hearts of those who wish us great harm and let them see that we mean to give them the freedom to choose to live for a greater good: Your greater good. Grant this nation, this great body of democracy, the strength and resolve to keep her hands, eyes, mind, and heart on Your course. A course that keeps her feet steady on the waves of the world, and her eyes fixed firmly on You as she carries the injured back in her broken arms to the safety of Your shores.
I give this prayer to You on Memorial Day, a day in which we pay tribute to those who gave up their lives so our lives may be free. The people who have best represented Your love, Your sacrifice, and Your steady ambitions. Imperfect people who have given up their futures for the futures of those yet unbegot; but appreciative. Appreciative, even when we say we are not. Appreciative, even when we hurt those who insure our lives with their blood. God, please bless all of those understated saints, the silent souls who rest in places like Arlington, Normandy, or in the vast stretches of sand, rice, or snow covered plains. Every soul assigned a name; but one. That Grave of the Unknown Soldier we hear about every year. Let it be known Lord, that the unknown soldier is You, and that grave is empty. Like all those rows of crosses, stars, and names that still battle on in the passions, ideals, and legacies of our beloved troops today. Those who faced death with the sole purpose of delaying that solemn invitation from being extended prematurely to the loves they sought so eagerly to protect.
I want to thank You, Lord, for one last blessing: The church that my family has seen fit to drag me, kicking and screaming, back to the thresholds of. Thank You God for everything this year, and let everything turn out to Your designs.
Forever and ever Amen,
Philip Wesley.
Prayer spoken and transcribed by Philip Wesley
Philip Wesley fearfully and wonderfully made the God
Property of DMG Ice, dmgice.com, and the original author as expressed in the by-line.