A Little Brother’s Prayer to Be as Big as His Big Brother

On this episode of Our American Stories, every sibling relationship has its own story. For Paul Bauer, a listener of Our American Stories, it was a childhood prayer to be as big as his older brother Moose. This memory of brotherhood and family reminds us how small moments often define sibling ties for years to come.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show.
And our favorite stories are our listeners stories. They're yours stories.
Our next story comes to us from Paul in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Paul moved our listeners with his story Wilburt and the
Empty Nester and a baby Boomer's battle with insanity and fitness.

(00:32):
We asked him if he had any more. Here he
is with a story simply titled Moose Prayer.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Have you ever seen a moose? I have. They're big, strong, powerful,
and athletic. Have you ever wanted to be a moose?
I did. I lived with a moose all throughout my childhood,
growing up in Bloomington, Minnesota, the middle child of a
cluster of eight devout Catholic kids. I have three older brothers,
one older sister, two younger brothers, and one younger sister.

(01:03):
I grew up idolizing my older siblings. What I wouldn't
have given to be as cool as them? Such was
the thought of this impressionable little brother. It was Tom,
the firstborn, five years my senior, that I most wanted
to emulate. His nickname Moose, A three sports star at
Kennedy High School, larger than life in my ten year

(01:24):
old eyes to a fifth grader, A fifteen year old
moose may as well have been Paul Bunyan. He could
do it all. What does this have to do with
a moose prayer? Let me start by asking, have you
ever wondered whether God is listening to your prayers? I
have wondered the same. As a high school sophomore, I
remember praying that the cute, energetic cheerleader would fall head

(01:45):
over heels for me. I was a shy, bashful, awkward teenager.
It didn't happen. God didn't answer my prayer, or did he.
It turned out the cheerleader and I had very little
in common. I also ream remember another selfish prayer, a
petition I made before my varsity hockey games. Please God
help us to win and help me to score a goal.

(02:07):
A victory and a goal did not always happen. God
didn't grant that prayer request either, or did he? Perhaps
I scored more goals than I deserved? Or what about
my prayer asking that God would give me over my
fear of public speaking. He certainly didn't answer that one
the way I had hoped after fifty eight years, I
still shiver at the thought and stutter when attempting to

(02:30):
speak in public settings. Or was it answered? Indeed, this
leads me to the prayer that God answered for me
without a doubt, my Moose prayer. Let's go back to
the ten year old fifth grader and his fifteen year
old oldest brother. One evening, Moose and I were in
our basement in the middle of an all star wrestling match,
and it happened. Bam. I could not believe my eyes. Moose,

(02:54):
while performing a wrestling move, banged his head on the
duck worked above us. While he was busy shaking up
the cobwebs. I was standing there in awe. How could
he hit his head on something that high? My brother
Moose was indeed larger than Paul Bunyan. He was a giant,
after all, confirmed in my mind right then and there.
Thus my Moose prayer was born. From that night forward,

(03:17):
I ended my bedtime prayers with Please Lord, help me
to grow to be as big as Moose. Prayer after prayer,
night after night, year after year. I was relentless. I
wanted more than anything to be as big as my
big brother. I kept up this prayer for a good
five or six years, never letting up. Oh, we don't

(03:38):
have a lot of tall jeans in our family. My
dad pushing six feet, my mama petite five feet five inches,
my non moose brothers at five eleven, although most of
them are still claiming to be six feet but moose
topped out at six feet two inches, big, strong, powerful
and athletic. Indeed, as for me, somehow I grew to

(03:59):
be six feet six inches. How did that happen? I
don't know for sure. Was it the peanut butter, my
favorite food? I doubt it coincidence? Maybe an answer to
my moose prayer? I think quite possibly yes, For God
tells us ask and you will receive, Seek and you

(04:20):
will find, knock and it will be opened unto you.
I certainly ask to be tall with passion, over and
over again. For me, I believe God chose to answer
my prayer, and then some his way of telling me,
do not doubt have faith. I hear you and will
answer your prayers. This knowledge he has given me, this

(04:40):
faith has certainly well over the years. On days when
my faith is tested and doubt creeps into my mind
as to whether God cares and is listening. I need
to look no further than my six foot six inch
frame as a reminder that, yes, God does listen, and
he does care, and he does want me to talk
to him. My prayers have changed since I was a teenager.

(05:00):
Instead of a laundry list of things to ask God for,
I try to spend more time talking with God and
listening to him, quiet time together, one on one conversing.
As a father myself, I learned how precious time is
with your sons and daughters. What father would not want
to have a conversation with his child. After my kids
moved out of our house and I became an empty nester,

(05:21):
the days I would get a phone call from one
of them became my best days. It made no difference
to me the reason they called. Sometimes it was just
to say hi and to tell me they loved me.
Sometimes it was to discuss an issue they were having,
or to ask for some fatherly advice. Sometimes they even
called and question something I was doing. I cherished each

(05:42):
and every one of these conversations. The precious time together
is priceless. Fathers I have learned, of course, want what
is best for their children, and we do want them
to ask, and I can surely imagine how the same
goes with our heavenly Father. I also learned much of
this from my own father. He asked me once during
one of our weekly Sunday night sessions to define prayer.

(06:04):
I struggled with an answer. I thought I knew what
it was, but I couldn't articulate it. He sent me
to go look it up. I don't remember where I
found the answer he was looking for, but when I
came back and I said, prayer is talking to God
with love, he said, that's correct. I'll never forget it.
But more than a definition, I learned from my dad

(06:25):
how to pray, from the former prayers and the Rosary,
I also learned to be unselfish in prayers, praying for
others rather than myself, just as he did. Our family
has been blessed over and over thanks in a large part,
I am sure to his unending prayers. I'm pretty sure
my dad's moose prayer had nothing to do with himself,
but more to do with talking to God with love

(06:47):
about helping others. So this all begs the question, who
is your moose? Who do you want to emulate? What
is your Moose prayer. Talk to God about it with love.
I'm convinced he's looking forward very much to talking with you,
and he will listen to you, and he will answer
your prayers.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
And a great job is always by Greg and a
special thanks to Paul in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here on our
American Stories Lie Hubib here, and I'd like to encourage

(07:31):
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(07:53):
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