Did Prayer Make a Difference?

Yesterday a plane went down in the Hudson River. (I was taking off on a plane out of Norfolk at approximately the same time. I didn't hear about the incident until I got to Texas.) Birds were sucked into the jet engines within a minute of takeoff. The pilot courageously guided the plane for a crash landing in the river. All of the passengers and crew survived. Many are calling this "Miracle on the Hudson."

I listened to a couple of the news reports with passengers saying that the pilot told them that they should brace themselves for a hard landing. These passengers said everyone started praying. I guess there were no confirmed atheists onboard.

Did prayer truly make a difference? I know that many will say that this is superstition. To them this the witch doctor who dances and the rain comes. Who can really say if prayer played a part?

I believe it did. However, not simply because I would like to think so. You have to look at the circumstances.

The planes engines were not working. There was no way they could be restarted. The plane was in the air from momentum and the lift it would provide. The skill of the pilot cannot be discounted but putting down the plane in water that would certainly cause hypothermia without any loss of life seems impossible.

News reports said that many of the survivors were in shock. I am sure they all thought that they had lived their last day. The fear of death must have been more real to them than ever before. It must have been hard to believe they were all alive. How many people can say they have survived a commercial airline crash?

I could be wrong. Prayer may have had nothing to do with it. However, I assure you I will be praying if the same circumstance presented itself to me. I'll bet everyone else on the plane will be praying with me. Atheism doesn't seem to help at a time like this.