WEBVTT - Moose Prayer

0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.840
<v Speaker 1>This is Leigh Habib and this is our American Stories,

0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.599
<v Speaker 1>and we tell stories about everything here on this show.

0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.360
<v Speaker 1>And our favorite stories are our listeners stories. They're yours stories.

0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.560
<v Speaker 1>Our next story comes to us from Paul in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:27.800
<v Speaker 1>Paul moved our listeners with his story Wilburt and the

0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.920
<v Speaker 1>Empty Nester and a baby Boomer's battle with insanity and fitness.

0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.680
<v Speaker 1>We asked him if he had any more. Here he

0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:39.239
<v Speaker 1>is with a story simply titled Moose Prayer. Have you

0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:44.360
<v Speaker 1>ever seen a moose? I have. They're big, strong, powerful,

0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:47.479
<v Speaker 1>and athletic. Have you ever wanted to be a moose?

0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.400
<v Speaker 1>I did. I lived with a moose all throughout my childhood,

0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.600
<v Speaker 1>growing up in Bloomington, Minnesota, the middle child of a

0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.320
<v Speaker 1>cluster of eight of our Catholic kids. I have three

0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.319
<v Speaker 1>older brothers, one older sister, two younger brothers, and one

0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.640
<v Speaker 1>younger sister. I grew up idolizing my older siblings. What

0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.320
<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't have given to be as cool as them?

0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.920
<v Speaker 1>Such was the thought of this impressionable little brother. It

0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.440
<v Speaker 1>was Tom, the firstborn, five years my senior, that I

0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:20.880
<v Speaker 1>most wanted to emulate. His nickname Moose, A three sports

0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.679
<v Speaker 1>star at Kennedy High School, larger than life in my

0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.040
<v Speaker 1>ten year old eyes to a fifth grader, A fifteen

0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:29.280
<v Speaker 1>year old moose may as well have been Paul Bunyan.

0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:32.160
<v Speaker 1>He could do it all. What does this have to

0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.920
<v Speaker 1>do with a moose prayer? Let me start by asking,

0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.120
<v Speaker 1>have you ever wondered whether God is listening to your prayers?

0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.160
<v Speaker 1>I have wondered the same. As a high school sophomore,

0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.400
<v Speaker 1>I remember praying that the cute, energetic cheerleader would fall

0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.680
<v Speaker 1>head over heels for me. I was a shy, bashful,

0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:53.080
<v Speaker 1>awkward teenager. It didn't happen. God didn't answer my prayer,

0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:56.680
<v Speaker 1>or did he. It turned out the cheerleader and I

0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:01.200
<v Speaker 1>had very little in common. I also remember another selfish prayer,

0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.520
<v Speaker 1>a petition I made before my varsity hockey games. Please

0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:06.640
<v Speaker 1>God help us to win and help me to score

0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.120
<v Speaker 1>a goal. A victory and a goal did not always happen.

0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.080
<v Speaker 1>God didn't grant that prayer request either, or did he?

0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.640
<v Speaker 1>Perhaps I scored more goals than I deserved? Or what

0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.320
<v Speaker 1>about my prayer asking that God would give me over

0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:24.280
<v Speaker 1>my fear of public speaking. He certainly didn't answer that

0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.080
<v Speaker 1>one the way I had hoped. After fifty eight years,

0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.040
<v Speaker 1>I still shivered at the thought and stutter when attempting

0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.120
<v Speaker 1>to speak in public settings. Or was it answered? Indeed,

0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:35.959
<v Speaker 1>this leads me to the prayer that God answered for

0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:40.400
<v Speaker 1>me without a doubt, my Moose prayer. Let's go back

0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.280
<v Speaker 1>to the ten year old fifth grader and his fifteen

0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:47.520
<v Speaker 1>year old oldest brother. One evening, Moose and I were

0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.239
<v Speaker 1>in our basement in the middle of an all star

0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:53.079
<v Speaker 1>wrestling match, and it happened. Bam. I could not believe

0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.919
<v Speaker 1>my eyes. Moose, while performing a wrestling move, banged his

0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.280
<v Speaker 1>head on the duck worked above us. While he was

0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.320
<v Speaker 1>busy shaking out the cobwebs. I was standing there in awe.

0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:04.800
<v Speaker 1>How could he hit his head on something that high?

0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.760
<v Speaker 1>My brother Moose was indeed larger than Paul Bunyan. He

0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.639
<v Speaker 1>was a giant after all, confirmed in my mind right

0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.679
<v Speaker 1>then and there. Thus my Moose prayer was born. From

0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.720
<v Speaker 1>that night forward, I ended my bedtime prayers with Please

0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:22.800
<v Speaker 1>Lord helped me to grow to be as big as Moose.

0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.760
<v Speaker 1>Prayer after prayer, night after night, year after year, I

0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.799
<v Speaker 1>was relentless. I wanted more than anything to be as

0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.960
<v Speaker 1>big as my big brother. I kept up this prayer

0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:36.360
<v Speaker 1>for a good five or six years, never letting up.

0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:38.960
<v Speaker 1>While we don't have a lot of tall jeans in

0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.440
<v Speaker 1>our family, my dad pushing six feet, my mama petit

0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.960
<v Speaker 1>five feet five inches, my non moose brothers at five eleven,

0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:48.320
<v Speaker 1>although most of them are still claiming to be six

0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:54.560
<v Speaker 1>feet but moose topped out at six feet two inches, big, strong, powerful,

0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:59.760
<v Speaker 1>and athletic. Indeed, as for me, somehow I grew to

0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.240
<v Speaker 1>be six feet six inches. How did that happen? I

0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.160
<v Speaker 1>don't know for sure. Was it the peanut butter, my

0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:12.600
<v Speaker 1>favorite food? I doubt it coincidence? Maybe in answer to

0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:17.480
<v Speaker 1>my moose prayer? I think quite possibly yes, For God

0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.479
<v Speaker 1>tells us ask and you will receive, Seek and you

0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.440
<v Speaker 1>will find, knock and it will be open unto you.

0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.320
<v Speaker 1>I certainly ask to be tall with passion, over and

0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.960
<v Speaker 1>over again. For me, I believe God chose to answer

0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.560
<v Speaker 1>my prayer, and then some his way of telling me,

0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.080
<v Speaker 1>do not doubt have faith. I hear you and will

0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.359
<v Speaker 1>answer your prayers. This knowledge he has given me, this

0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.599
<v Speaker 1>faith has certainly well over the years. From days when

0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.800
<v Speaker 1>my faith is tested and doubt creeps into my mind

0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.400
<v Speaker 1>as to whether God cares and is listening. I need

0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.240
<v Speaker 1>to look no further than my six ft six in

0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.400
<v Speaker 1>frame as a reminder that, yes, God does listen, and

0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:55.880
<v Speaker 1>he does care, and he does want me to talk

0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.800
<v Speaker 1>to him. My prayers have changed since I was a teenager.

0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.640
<v Speaker 1>Instead of a laundry list of who things to ask

0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:04.800
<v Speaker 1>God for, I try to spend more time talking with

0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:08.520
<v Speaker 1>God than listening to him. Quiet time together, one on

0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.799
<v Speaker 1>one conversing. As a father myself, I learned how precious

0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.680
<v Speaker 1>time is with your sons and daughters. What father would

0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:19.320
<v Speaker 1>not want to have a conversation with his child. After

0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:20.880
<v Speaker 1>my kids moved out of our house and I became

0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:22.920
<v Speaker 1>an empty nester, the days I would get a phone

0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:26.359
<v Speaker 1>call from one of them became my best days. It

0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.760
<v Speaker 1>made no difference to me the reason they called. Sometimes

0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:31.440
<v Speaker 1>it was just to say hi and to tell me

0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.800
<v Speaker 1>they loved me. Sometimes it was to discuss an issue

0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:36.960
<v Speaker 1>they were having, or to ask for some fatherly advice.

0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.559
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes they even called him questions something I was doing.

0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:43.840
<v Speaker 1>I cherished each and every one of these conversations. The

0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:48.600
<v Speaker 1>precious time together is priceless. Fathers I have learned, of course,

0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.520
<v Speaker 1>want what is best for their children and we do

0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.640
<v Speaker 1>want them to ask, and I can surely imagine how

0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.560
<v Speaker 1>the same goes with our heavenly Father. I also learned

0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.960
<v Speaker 1>much of this from my own father. He asked me

0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.680
<v Speaker 1>once during one of our weekly Sunday night sessions to

0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.400
<v Speaker 1>define prayer. I struggled with an answer. I thought I

0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.159
<v Speaker 1>knew what it was, but I couldn't articulate it. He

0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.200
<v Speaker 1>sent me to go look it up. I don't remember

0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.479
<v Speaker 1>where I found the answer he was looking for, but

0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.200
<v Speaker 1>when I came back and I said, prayer is talking

0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:21.719
<v Speaker 1>to God with love, he said, that's correct. I'll never

0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.480
<v Speaker 1>forget it. But more than a definition, I learned from

0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.360
<v Speaker 1>my dad how to pray, from the formal prayers and

0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.919
<v Speaker 1>the Rosary, who also learned to be unselfish in prayers,

0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.080
<v Speaker 1>praying for others rather than myself, just as he did.

0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.400
<v Speaker 1>Our family has been blessed over and over thanks in

0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.719
<v Speaker 1>a large part, I am sure to his unending prayers.

0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:43.960
<v Speaker 1>I'm pretty sure my dad's moose prayer had nothing to

0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.599
<v Speaker 1>do with himself, but more to do with talking to

0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.640
<v Speaker 1>God with love about helping others. So this all begs

0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.880
<v Speaker 1>the question, who is your moose? Who do you want

0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:58.280
<v Speaker 1>to emulate? What is your moose prayer? Talk to God

0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.040
<v Speaker 1>about it with love. I'm convinced he's looking forward very

0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.440
<v Speaker 1>much to talking with you, and he will listen to you,

0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.280
<v Speaker 1>and he will answer your prayers. And a great job

0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.320
<v Speaker 1>is always by Greg and a special thanks to Paul

0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:30.840
<v Speaker 1>in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here on our American Stories Folks, if

0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.640
<v Speaker 1>you love the great American stories we tell and love

0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.280
<v Speaker 1>America like we do, we're asking you to become a

0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.240
<v Speaker 1>part of the Our American Stories family. If you agree

0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.200
<v Speaker 1>that America is a good and great country, please make

0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.040
<v Speaker 1>a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and seventy

0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.560
<v Speaker 1>six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters.

0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.600
<v Speaker 1>Go to our American Stories dot com now and go

0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:53.760
<v Speaker 1>to the donate button and help us keep the great

0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:59.120
<v Speaker 1>American stories coming. That's our American Stories dot Com.