COLUMIST: RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD BESTS DREAM

As a young reporter for NBC in the early 1970s, Cal Thomas each year edged closer to his goal of attaining the American dream -- in his case, becoming a nationally recognized network news correspondent.

But when he was fired one Friday afternoon in 1973, the young man was forced to take stock of his life.

"I saw in two minutes my entire life evaporate before me," said Thomas, now a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. "Instead of success, fame, power and money, everything was taken away from me."

At Thursday's Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Cape Girardeau Show Me Center, Thomas told about 1,400 people gathered that the "American Dream" -- fame, fortune and success -- can never bring true contentment.

"Whatever you love most in life is your god," Thomas said. "The night that I was fired, my wife said, `You'll never get over your feelings of failure until you thank God for getting fired.'"

Thomas explained that false gods of fame, power and material wealth leave a man unsatisfied and searching.

And although he attended church throughout his life, it wasn't until he accepted the provision of God's love -- through the sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ -- that he truly was able to have a personal relationship with the one true God.

"I used to be deeply religious, now I just love Christ," he added.

Thomas said that although he was a churchgoer and was baptized as a child, his view of Christianity was skewed.

"I didn't see how God related to my life," he said. "I drifted and coasted."

But in the midst of his struggle to be a success at NBC, Thomas' wife became restless and began working as a volunteer at the National Prayer Breakfast office in Washington, D.C.

She finally convinced her husband to meet with some of the affluent and prominent men who organized the annual event.

Thomas said the first meeting did not jibe with his stereotypical view of devoutly religious men and women.

"The real clue to me that there were no religious people there was that some of the gals weren't bad looking," he said. "Christians to me were guys with terminal bad breath, kind of homely and intellectually challenged. They were people without much going for them anyway."

But after meeting Christians who were prominent, respected professionals, Thomas was persuaded to attend a prayer gathering.

"I heard a federal judge talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ," he said. "I didn't understand.

"I realized that I'd been a journalist all my life and had investigated the claims of politicians and businessmen, but I never, in all my life, investigated the question: `Does God exist, and is it possible for me to know him?'"

When he began to study the Bible, Thomas learned he was separated from God by sin.

"Then I learned that through His love, even though He was the aggrieved party, He took the initiative to bridge this gulf through the provision of Jesus Christ," Thomas said.

He said a personal relationship with God is more important than any vain pursuit of the American dream, and Thomas urged those at the meeting Thursday to assess their own lives honestly.

"America's primary problems are not economical and political, they're moral and spiritual," Thomas said. "Power and place is temporal.

"At the end of your life, what will remain? More importantly, where will you go, and how will you know in advance where you're going?"

Thomas writes a column three times weekly for national syndication to more than 300 papers. He has guest-hosted CNN's "Crossfire" and has appeared as a guest on "Donahue," ABC's "Nightline," "Good Morning America," "CBS Morning News," and NBC's "Today Show."

A 30-year veteran of broadcast and print journalism, Thomas has won numerous awards. He also is the author of eight books and makes regular appearances on the lecture circuit throughout the nation.

Thursday's Mayor's Prayer Breakfast, organized by the Christian Business Men's Committee of Cape Girardeau, was sponsored by Mayors Gene Rhodes of Cape Girardeau and Paul Sander of Jackson.

It was the largest crowd yet for the annual event, now in its seventh year.