Prayer

Disclaimer: Religion is about to be discussed.

Whether you believe in God, a god, or gods, or none of the above you know what I'm about to say is going to strike true. Maybe not all of it, but something - even a piece of minutia - will strike you as something you remember.

Do you know what its like to have a prayer answered? Its like having your first kiss with you first love. Having your mother kiss a scraped knee after a fall, then running out trying to find out whos "it". Hearing someone outside the family for the first time say "I love you". It is an adrenaline rush, finding 20 bucks in a pair of jeans you put away last winter and forgot about. It is a feeling that knocks you down even when you're laying down. Every single pure bliss emotion you can think of...It's that feeling. And truth be told they don't come every day. Which is both a shame and a good thing. The dichotomy of which makes me laugh. If answered prayers came everyday belief would be full of addicts looking for that rush. Which would flood congregations, synagagues, mosques, cathedrals, basements with believers. Which is a good question for debate I think.

Let me back up. Two nights ago I spent an hour car ride and another hour after that talking to God. Both as a human and as an equal. I got the woman I've been seeing ticked off because of the conversation I was having that wasn't with her. The conversation ranged from the politic to the angry to the pleading to the begging back to the adoration that a bliever owes to their God.

Lately - past four years, and before - my faith/belief has been tried daily. I am not a perfect person, and thank God for that. You know what happened to the last one? Romans didn't have Crazy Glue or Velcro. I am proud to be fallible. Not happy about it, but I am proud of it. How else are we to learn from our mistakes and prove the pundits and naysayers wrong? There is no other way to live - in my mind- other than to own your mistakes and learn from and then not repeat them!

A very wise man once told me a long time ago that the way to become wise is to challenge oneself to learn something new everyday. This is a phrase everyone in every culture has heard. I would like to add an ammendment to it however. Add it not only to your knowledge but use it and share it!

I am not a trained educator - unless you cound 18 years surrounded by educators, and in an education field as a job a trained educator - however I am a coach, I interact with the public, I write here... How can I in good conscience say that I am not an educator? Every single person is! Everyone we meet we can impart a portion of knowldege on.

Example: A friend and I were having a debate last week; which has more sway over the populace: culture or religion? It was a free exchange of ideas, and while our views tend to be similar, there are still huge differences, and We can argue either side when pressed. His main argument stemmed from the idea that the chicken came before the egg. Which is what the debate boiled down to in the end anyway. But the question still stands and can be argued by anthropologists around the world. Can a culture be defined as such with out a belief system? If so, does that belief system then in turn make the culture better or influence in it any other way?

What about the Catholic Church? They have had their collective hand in culture for about a millennium. What about Hinduism or Islam or Judaism which are as old or older than most Christian and Judeo-Christian belief structures.

It is a debate that is centuries old and will continue with most subsets that either A. care B. smoke pot C. have more education D. pontificate.

Through my conversation both in the truck and then on the porch I didn't gain much insight. At least not until I came in that night, made a drink and started looking for a book to read while enjoying my beverage on the rocks. Looting through my couple dozen of boxes of books I came across the book I was searching for along with another book. I was confused why I sorted my confirmation bible into a book of historical and classical fiction literature.

Before I went back downstairs to the living room I opened up the Bible and read two of the three passages I have bookmarked. "Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him."

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."


Reading those two passages answered quite a bit of what my conversation entailed and revolved around. They helped guide me to a clarity of mind and purpose that I haven't felt for a long time. Boiled down...they answered my prayer.

Let me tell ya, it feels great.

Buck