Faith

Are you a religious person?

I was born and raised Catholic, and both of our children were baptized in a Catholic church. Gary is Anglican, which is very similar to the Catholic faith (except they accept female ministers and marriage is commonplace among both male and female ministers).

Having children, we find it difficult to make it to mass every Sunday. I know that the more you go, the easier they will adapt. But honestly, our blood pressure rises to dangerous levels after an hour trying to keep them calm and quiet! I get so flustered that we usually end up not going for several weeks (or months!) until we forget the calamity and dare to brave the whole procedure again.

Of course, I still have a strong faith in my religion. I believe that there is a God and that He has a master plan (which sometimes I don't understand!). I never understood atheists and how they could not believe in faith, when our day to day lives are filled with miracles. I don't condemn or judge - I just don't understand.

My friend, Nita, sent me this little email joke and I wanted to share. Only because it made me laugh right out loud! ;)

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself.

As he continued walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes. He turned to look, and he saw a seven-foot grizzly charging toward him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the bear closing in on him. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell to the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear raising his paw to take a swipe at him.

At that instant the atheist cried out, "Oh, my God!" Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent.

It was then that a bright light shone upon the man and a Voice came out of the sky, saying, "You deny my existence for all of these years, told others that I didn't exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you really expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light and said, "t would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps, could You make the BEAR a Christian?"

"Very well," said the Voice.

The light went out, and the sounds of the forest resumed. The bear lowered his paw, bowed his head, and spoke, "Lord, bless this food, which I am about to receive and for which I am truly thankful. Amen."

Happy Wednesday and thanks for reading!