"On the way home my husband broke down and, doubling up his fist, hit the steering
wheel, saying: 'Berts, I can't give that little guy up.' Have you ever seen a man cry? It
isn't a pleasant experience. We stopped the car and, after talking things over, decided to
stop in church and pray that if it was God's will to take our baby, we would resign our will
to His. I sank in the pew and said with tears rolling down my cheeks: 'Not my will but
Thine be done.'
"The moment I uttered those words, I felt better. A sense of peace that I hadn't felt for a
long time came over me. All the way home, I kept repeating: 'O God, Thy will, not mine,
be done.'
"I slept soundly that night for the first time in a week. The doctor called a few days later
and said that Bobby had passed the crisis. I thank God for the strong and healthy four-
year-old boy we have today."
I know men who regard religion as something for women and children and preachers.
They pride themselves on being "he-men" who can fight their battles alone.
How surprised they might be to learn that some of the most famous "he-men" in the
world pray every day. For example, "he-man" Jack Dempsey told me that he never goes
to bed without saying his prayers. He told me that he never eats a meal without first
thanking God for it. He told me that he prayed every day when he was training for a
bout, and that when he was fighting, he always prayed just before the bell sounded for
each round. "Praying," he said, "helped me fight with courage and confidence."
"He-man" Connie Mack told me that he couldn't go to sleep without saying his prayers.
"He-man" Eddie Rickenbacker told me that he believed his life had been saved by
prayer. He prays every day.
"He-man" Edward R. Stettinius, former high official of General Motors and United States
Steel, and former Secretary of State, told me that he prayed for wisdom and guidance
every morning and night.
"He-man" J. Pierpont Morgan, the greatest financier of his age, often went alone to
Trinity Church, at the head of Wall Street, on Saturday afternoons and knelt in prayer.
When "he-man" Eisenhower flew to England to take supreme command of the British
and American forces, he took only one book on the plane with him-the Bible.
"He-man" General Mark Clark told me that he read his Bible every day during the war
and knelt down in prayer. So did Chiang Kai-shek, and General Montgomery-"Monty of
El Alamein". So did Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. So did General Washington, Robert E.
Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and scores of other great military leaders.
These "he-men" discovered the truth of William James's statement: "We and God have
business with each other; and in opening ourselves to His influence, our deepest destiny
is fulfilled."
A lot of "he-men" are discovering that. Seventy-two million Americans are church
members now-an all-time record. As I said before, even the scientists are turning to
religion. Take, for example, Dr. Alexis Carrel, who wrote Man, the Unknown and won the
greatest honour that can be bestowed upon any scientist, the Nobel prize. Dr. Carrel
said in a Reader's Digest article: "Prayer is the most powerful form of energy one can
generate. It is a force as real as terrestrial gravity. As a physician, I have seen men,