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Thursday, Feb. 6, 2003

The country, he said, was in a time of testing, and it needed to pray for wisdom "to know and do what is right."

"This is a testing time for our country," Bush said at the annual National Prayer Breakfast.

"We have troops that are assembling in the Middle East. There's oppressive regimes that seek terrible weapons. We face an ongoing threat of terror.

"One thing is for certain: We didn't ask for these challenges, but we will meet them. I say that with certainty, because this nation has strong foundations that won't be shaken," he said.

The breakfast, held every February, has been a tradition in Washington since the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

This year's event was held at the Washington Hilton and was attended by first lady Laura Bush, 56 senators and 241 representatives, members of the president's Cabinet, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the CIA and numerous spiritual leaders.

Rice: 'God Has a Long Reach'

A born-again Christian, he credits his faith for having brought inner peace, stability and purpose to his personal life.

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, the main speaker at the breakfast, mixed poignancy with humor.

She returned to regular church attendance when she was at Stanford University, when a man approached her in a supermarket on a Sunday and was engaged in conversation by a man shopping for his church's picnic.

Did she play piano, by chance, he asked, because his church was in need of one.

"My goodness, God has a long reach, right into the spice aisle of the Lucky Supermarket," she recalled saying to herself.

Later, she discovered the congregation had trouble staying in tune, so she called her mother and asked her what to do.

"'Honey, just play in the key of C and they'll come back to you,'" Rice related her mother saying. "Perhaps God plays in C, and that is why we always seem to find our way back to Him, sometimes in spite of ourselves," Rice said.

Bush, when it was his turn to speak, said that as the country passes through this time of challenge, the nation could be confident in the character of its people, its cause in the world and "in the ways of Providence, even when they are far from our understanding."

Thursday's prayer breakfast was opened by Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who asked God to look out for American service personnel and to comfort their families.

Copyright 2003 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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