"Glory to whom? Who's God? I don't know anybody with that name, except the guy who our money says we trust in. Religion is just a crutch, anyway."

And how does this person know that religion is a crutch? Especially if they've never had religion in their lives before, which I happen to know that they haven't. This is from a conversation I had with a friend not too long ago. Yes, that line suprised me too, and I'm not a devout anything, but I don't agree with that statement, at all.

And the Glory of the Lord Shall be Revealed

I have to say, I've had some pretty unique experiences in my life that have made me believe what I do, now. The thing is, I do believe, in God, for lack of a better term at the moment. I have no empirical proof of a "God", nor do I expect to ever find any, yet I am willing to take the existence of a universal being as fact. That's a pretty big step for alot of people to take, but for me it's just plain common sense.

Let me see if I can explain this to y'all. I can except that we as humans are not perfect, and because we are not perfect, we can never know, or be aware of everything that goes on in our environment, world, universe, etc. If we can except that, then we can except the fact that there's going to be some stuff that happens that we just can't explain with any method. Just as we can except the fact that most humans are born with two arms, and two legs, we should be able to accept the fact that some humans are born with only one leg, or no legs, or no eyes! We call these people different, handicapped, or worse...freaks. Why? Aren't they humans too? If you think these people are freaks, then you're more handicapped than they are.

Then Shall the Eyes of the Blind..

Okay, what does all this have to do with religion? Well, it's not really religion that I'm preaching, you can believe in any God, or Gods, that you want, that's not for me to say. The point is that you do believe. Faith is the important thing, because it's another one of those things that all us humans have in common, or should have in common. If we can learn to trust in something we can't see, then maybe we can learn to trust in other humans, knowing that the only thing we do know about them, is that their faith is as strong as ours.

What's the benefits of faith, you ask? No ulcers, for one thing. The possibilities are endless, we cannot possibly dream of all the outcomes...but hey, if we have faith in those possibilities, I can guarantee you, that they will suprise us beyond all our expectations.

The Trumpet Shall Sound

It's hard for me to explain faith to you, without telling you about my own beliefs. If you were to ask me how do you know, I will tell you I just know. When I think of the cool stuff that's happened in my life because I believed they would, it's a great feeling, kinda like that feeling you get when listening to your favorite song, or seeing an old friend, or relative that you haven't seen in a long time. Maybe you can't explain exactly why those things make you feel like you do, except that you love your friends and relatives, and you really like that song...because they make you feel so...wonderful! Yes, it's a circular reasoning thing, but somehow it's okay for it to be that way.

Try this once; think about something you'd like to happen, and believe with all your heart that it will happen, but don't stress over it. Never worry, that's part of faith, too. Things can turn out for the best in the end, if you let them. Sometimes things won't turn out as you'd hoped, or expected, for better or for worse. If for better, hey...bonus! If for worse, don't cry over spilt milk. It's okay to be disappointed, but also except not everything can and will go our way, all the time. Hey...sometimes things have to go other people's ways.

Happy Holidays!