A few years ago, just as the 2012 presidential campaign was getting under way, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry called on Texans to pray for rain.

The state’s drought was crippling farmers and ranchers. The prayer request drew some barbs from Perry foes. They thought it was silly and some said they thought Perry offered up a too-simple solution to a complex problem.

Well, churches around the state responded. Clergy offered prayers. Their congregants did as well.

Prayer is a difficult thing to quantify or to analyze in worldly terms. It depends on whether one believes in the power of prayer.

Farmers and ranchers certainly do. Indeed, when you earn your livelihood based on the whims of Mother Nature or the power of Almighty, then prayer is your best defense against the elements working against you.

Did the prayers work?

Well, Amarillo is experiencing one of its wettest months of May in recorded history. Its year-to-date precipitation levels are far greater than normal and even greater than that over what it was a year ago.

People have been photographed kayaking through flash-flood water. Fish have jumped out of playas. Storm drains haven’t been able to move the water quickly enough to avoid flooding along busy thoroughfares.

Are those simple requests for prayer responsible for our good fortune?

How does one prove they had no impact?