"You can't escape

a godly mother's prayers"

             . . . On July 11, 1972, Captain John Arnold [r.] was flying his RF-4 over North Vietnam on a photographic intelligence mission.  His was one of four planes cruising at 550 knots (600 mph), at an altitude of about 200 ft., coming in under radar.  Suddenly, a Russian MiG 19 appeared right on John's tail.  American flyers knew this M.O. well.  The MiG was small and fast, hard to detect on radar.  It could sneak up on a jet and blast it with its forward cannon literally spraying bullets.  Hundreds of U.S. planes were downed by this very tactic.

The other pilots pulled away, shouting on the radio, "He's after you, John!  He's on you!"  John's Weapons Systems Officer [l.] yelled, "Pull right!"  As he struggled to take evasive maneuvers and avoid hitting trees, John thought, "Now, it's either the Hanoi Hilton, or I'm going to meet the Man upstairs."

            At about that same time, in Mexico City, half way around the world, John's mother was abruptly awakened from sleep.  Beset by an overwhelming fear that John was in danger, she fell to her knees beside the bed and prayed fervently for her son.

            Both John and his plane came back without a scratch.  As a result of this incident, he was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Does God answer prayer, or was John just lucky?  The latter explanation was what his fellow pilots gave him after he returned safely to base.  Several weeks later, John received a letter from his mom; in it she detailed both the time and date of her prayer experience.  He knew then that his mother's prayers had reached both heaven and North Vietnam.  They had stood most adequately between him and certain death.  As the Scripture says, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper" (Isaiah 54:17) . . .