Louisiana Lawmakers Declare Statewide Day of Prayer
A call for prayer was issued this past week for the state of Louisiana, but this time it wasn't from the Church.
The latest call for prayer came from the Louisiana Senate, which unanimously agreed this past week to declare Sunday, June 20, a Statewide Day of Prayer.
"All of us are well aware of the problems we have faced across the Gulf Region since the tragic explosion and sinking of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the coast of Louisiana," commented State Senator Robert Adley (R-Benton), who urged the Senate to call a day of prayer.
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"Thus far the efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail," he continued. "It is clearly time for a miracle for us."
Senate Resolution 145, which won unanimous approval Wednesday, recognizes the Statewide Day of Prayer for Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico region, particularly those affected by the environmental and economic disaster resulting from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil leak.
As the resolution details, "citizens are urged to pray for a solution to this crisis, each according to his or her own faith, to pray for God's continued guidance and protection and to join in the observance of a day of prayer, seeking God's blessings upon both our state and nation."
"[I]n times of great distress and need, we, the people of this land, have always turned to private, public, and corporate prayer," it states. And "a Statewide Day of Prayer provides each of us with a powerful opportunity to humble ourselves before our Almighty God."
Given the amount of oil that has been gushing out since the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, the resolution recognizes that "untold millions" of people through the world will be affected by the spill, which has possibly spread out across an area roughly larger than the state of Florida.
"[T]he Senate of Legislature of Louisiana calls upon the people of Louisiana to join each other and the entire community that is linked by the Gulf of Mexico in this unified expression of faith and hope," the resolution concludes.
On Sunday, Democratic Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey released documents showing BP estimating the leak could gush between 2.3 million and 4.2 million gallons of oil per day in a worst-case scenario.
The current worst-case estimate of what's leaking is 2.5 million gallons a day.
The spill is already considered the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. Estimates have also placed it as among the largest oil spills in the world.
