Dad did pray to God at certain times of his life. Not many, but at certain unusual times.
This happened when he was in northern Africa transporting fresh troops to the front during World War II. Dad had become an expert in detecting mines and avoiding them. He missed hitting mines during the entire three years he moved back and forth in the North African dessert- except for one time.
On this occasion he was forced to go through a new area where the mines had not yet been identified and a truck that was ahead of him accidentally hit a hidden antitank mine. The wheel on this truck went flying about 100 or more meters into the air and some of the soldiers in the truck were wounded. One young man who was hurt the most cried out for help and my Dad went and took care of him since there was no doctor. Dad prayed that God would save the man’s life. God did not fulfill Dad’s request. The soldier died later that night and Dad took it pretty hard. He was responsible for writing to the family to let them know that their son had died.
This reminds me of what the cynical Joseph Stalin once said: “A single death is a tragedy, but when multitudes die it is just a statistic.”
The second time I am aware that Dad prayed was much later when he was with me in New York City being operated on for skin cancer.
On this second occasion he asked God to extend his life a few more years so he could accomplish one or two more things. He never told me what those “one or two more things” were, but I always felt that on this other occasion he had received what he had asked for.
It was clear from what he told me that he had also prayed at other select times in his life when the chips were down or an important decision had to be made. It was also clear that he believed that only God could allow certain things to happen in your life and that God had granted him some of his requests before.
How many knew about this I cannot say, but I would imagine it was only myself and maybe my Mom.
My father understood who was the highest authority.
He also understood that all things are possible with God when God says “yes”.