79R20078 JTR-D

By:  Dutton                                                     H.C.R. No. 228



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, The State of Texas has traditionally recognized a 
variety of official state symbols as representations of the proud 
spirit and heritage of our state; and
	WHEREAS, The wide range of these symbols is itself tribute to 
the state's diversity, and such disparate entities as the 
bluebonnet, the longhorn, the guitar, the sport of rodeo, and the 
motto of "friendship" express different and distinctive aspects of 
Texas life, even as in combination they suggest the sweeping 
breadth of our natural and cultural resources; and
	WHEREAS, Similarly, the religious traditions that have 
nurtured Texas and its people spring from many sources, and just as 
the boundaries of Texas encompass an area of unsurpassed 
geographical diversity, so does its collective spirituality 
embrace a vast array of faiths; and
	WHEREAS, The religions that have shaped the development of 
the Lone Star State cherish in common the belief in a single deity, 
and this concept is aptly expressed in the following invocation:
		To the God of the Panhandle.  To the God of 
the Rio Grande Valley.  To the God of the 
High Plains.  To the God of the Gulf Coast.  
To the God of the Piney Woods.  To the God of 
Central Texas.  To the God of West Texas.  To 
the God of rural Texas.  To the God of urban 
Texas.  To the God of the poor.  To the God 
of the powerful.  We thank you for being one 
God, and we pray that our differences serve 
to keep Texas one under God. Amen.

and                                                                           
	WHEREAS, This stirring prayer draws together countless 
strands of individual spiritual experience, and in so doing 
reaffirms both our common origins as humans and our shared destiny 
as Texans; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby designate this invocation as the Official State Prayer of 
Texas.