Where is God Part VI {Next}

It has been quite some time since I started these articles asking the question “Where Is God”.

Granted, life does get busy sometimes. Everything from changing jobs, to losing jobs, to finally finding the job of my dreams; these things tend to occupy a person’s mind and attention.

There has been family drama, life drama, as well as global political and environmental drama to a degree that has become overwhelming to many of us.

We have survived a pandemic.

There ensued global destructive racial hate and violence, all brought about by the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer just months after the start of the pandemic.

There has been a conclusion of old wars, and the beginning of new ones.

There was political turmoil, corruption and even violence against the very symbols of this country’s freedom and independence. We have seen the conviction of those who perpetrated these violent and unforgivable acts, and then new leadership that not only forgave those people but raised them up as heroes.

The list of struggles, challenges, and distractions, even for someone more focused than myself, has obviously been overwhelming.

Yet somehow, through it all, I believe that many of us have managed to keep the faith.

And through it all, by some means, I for one have always believed that prayers are heard and are answered, even when the state of the world suggests otherwise.

As an example:

The last time I looked at my website before “my big time out”, that now has thankfully ended, I set the website up with a plug-in that allowed me to feature specific articles I had written. It would cycle the article headers in a slideshow on the title page of the site. I chose all the previous “where is God” articles as the featured topic. So, every time I looked at the website for any reason, even if only for a moment, those articles scrolled past my vision.

Some would suggest this is merely by chance; I could’ve selected any group of articles. Although I do believe in ‘chance’ I also believe that important choices can be ‘inspired’ or impressed upon us as to what is the right or wrong choice. I believe these inspirations can come to pass for many possible reasons.

If you do pray, what do you pray about? What do you ask for help with?

If you don’t pray, why?

In General, what has been inspiring or challenging you.

In my whole being, I have grown to accept that weather or not you believe in and love God, God believes in and loves you.

Therefore, if you are a person of faith that has lost your way somehow, or someone that just never embraced the concept of God at all, I believe that God does hear you and does offer solace and guidance. Weather or not you hear it and act upon it is up to you.

So, imagine how powerful the response might be, if you actually expected an answer.

I still take to heart my father’s words of advice he offered me when I was still way too young to appreciate it:

“Be careful what you pray for! Because you just might get it!”    

As for me: I do pray.

And I say this, not as a badge of honor or as something that I believe gives me bragging rights, but as an individual who has seen too many times that prayer does work, to believe that it doesn’t.

And what have I asked for?

Consistently, over and over again in my life, I have prayed in one way or another for a few very simple and very basic things:

“Lord, help me to have faith. Help me to believe in myself and this life we choose for me. Help me to truly know You and have faith in You as I know You have faith in me. Help me to always take care of this life you gave me, but otherwise, help me to stop wasting my life doubting and second-guessing. Lord, please help me to be what you meant for me to be and accomplish what we wanted me to accomplish!

I’m tired of being afraid.”

Keep in mind: All this Holy ‘inspiring’ doesn’t change our free will; our right to choose. We are still capable of taking the ‘less preferred path’, or even the wrong one.

There is also another angle to my wanting to complete these discussions:

It is also because I am stubborn, and refuse to leave something unfinished, regardless of how long it sat dormant. But thankfully and most importantly, it has been much more than just stubbornness.

Historically speaking, even when I was much younger, I always believed in prayer. I remember as a child of seven or eight years old, praying feverishly that God would allow me to be four years old again. To this day I can only guess why I wished that to be. However, as a man who is now 65 years of age I can imagine, even at a young age, the draw of wanting to stay young longer because of the fear of becoming older and all the unknown that accompanies that path. As I grew, the context and complexity of my prayers also grew. As life’s challenges increased with my age, my passion for prayer, and the need to believe that I was being heard, and even more importantly answered, was extremely important to me.

I can only say with complete honesty and conviction in my words that I have not always understood how prayers were answered, but I have always believed that they were being heard.

I think it only comes with age that one realizes that the answers to our prayers are not always what we hoped for or what we expected. I believe mankind tends to think that when our prayers are not answered in the way we had hoped for or within the time we expected, we too quickly assume that they have not been heard, have not been answered, or worse yet, that we are not worthy.

All I can offer in answer to these doubts and concerns is that again, with age and patience, I have learned that for me at least, all prayers are answered!

They may not be answered as quickly as I would like them to be.

The answers I receive may not seemingly bring about what I initially had hoped for.

And if any of you reading this are anything like me: Sometimes, with all the noise and distractions and conflicting thoughts, combined with seemingly unending external distractions, we may not even be aware that an answer has been given.

And so here I sit years later reviewing the same old articles and contemplating my next step in this small yet significant chapter of my life. And although this next chapter may simply be a collection of words on a website, the results of my efforts to produce those words are no less inspired and important as any great work from the minds of mankind.

Inspired?

I believe our actions can be inspired by some power much greater than ourselves. I believe this because I have seen, time and time again, things that I have accomplished or that have transpired in my life and realized that I have only been allowed to be involved in these processes rather than responsible for them. I have seen events transpire that are so complex and interwoven with events of our past and eventually our future, that it would be near impossible for the average disconnected human being to create such a thing.

And why important?

I have always believed, especially more so as I have grown older, that we never truly and completely understand the importance of our words and our actions throughout this life we’ve been blessed to live. What we do and say, whether through our own actions at the time or through the words we write can have an impact far surpassing our own lifetimes. This is especially true in these modern times.

What was once just the spoken word, passed through the generations, has become a digitally recorded and preserved timeline of our lives and our interactions with those around us. Social media and the internet, along with all our data stored in the ‘cloud’ and spread around the globe assures this to be true.

With our limited time on this planet, we have no way of knowing the impact of our words that can now live clearly, distinctly and legibly, long after our time here has passed.

And so, I look back and I review these articles. And as I do so I am reminded of prayers that have been prayed, and the believed divine answers that have been received. My mind becomes overwhelmed by the possibilities of where this could go. The impact and importance of my words and actions are clearly extremely important, not only to me but to future generations beyond me.

And please know: I mean this to be true for all of us, not just me.

I am soon reminded of my own previous statements and realize that this path and the things that had to happen to get me here are far too complex for mere mortal minds to create and put into play.

And in doing all this and thinking about all this, I don’t at all believe that my life and this path is some grand chapter in the universe that will change the world and save mankind.

But I do believe that, out of the entirety of what mankind as a species can accomplish, I believe that I may contribute a chapter of my own. I do believe that I may, God willing, contribute some important words or some inspired verse that may motivate present and future generations of that small circle of people that matter to me, and that care about me. And in doing this seemingly small and simple thing, who knows what can happen!

So, down to specifics:

My initial concept of this collection of articles was:

…that it would be a collection of discussions about the various organized religions in this world and how God plays a part in those organized faiths. This would require an overly complex collection of articles about every possible organized religion mankind presently has in this world. This information would then be presented to show how mankind has tried to keep God in the forefront of our lives through these organized efforts to stay connected with the divine.

I would then conclude this collection of articles with a long-involved presentation of my beliefs.

The challenge, however, is both simple and complex from where I now stand.

First, I know that I am guilty of overthinking things. Usually, by the time my initial thought process lays out a plan and a course of action, it is so complicated and so truly overwhelming in its detail that there is no way one human being could ever hope to accomplish it.

And so: the simple part.

I need to take a deep breath…

Clear out all the fluff and the dust mites in the corners…

And just simplify things a bit.

But now, the complicated part:

Since I began these articles seemingly a lifetime ago, my path has definitely progressed forward along the lines of the subject matter. Ultimately and specifically that subject matter must be “where is God”, for me.

Next:

How can this message be presented in such a way that it might help guide and direct others to feel and understand the many positive things that has brought me to this point in my life.

Because in this case, and at this point on the path, I have reached that place where I realize that I am both still on the path, but also, and at the same time, in a completely unexpected place than I ever expected I would be.

Sometimes, in a situation like this, one can find oneself in a completely unexpected and unwelcome situation. I on the other hand have somehow been inspired to embrace a reality in my life that is both unexpected and at the same time, a wonderful blessing.

And so, in respect to the simple part mentioned above, and this complex part, I would like to proceed as follows:

I’m going to continue this dialogue; except I am going to use a larger brush and paint broader strokes.

For example, I am going to write another section about Christianity, but I am going to discuss Christianity as a whole, rather than all the individual parts and factions that have brought us to this point in human religious evolution. I will then follow this up with general overviews of all the other major religious organizations that I can think of.

I will rely on input from you, the readers, to guide and correct me if I may have forgotten something that should not be excluded.

Then, as these articles progress, and as I continue to progress down the path I find myself on, I will then present my own personal conclusions. These conclusions will be based upon all that has been written before that final chapter, as well as upon this life, which has been my blessing to live for all the years leading up to this part of it.

My only prayer in this regard is that all you who read and may be motivated by these words may find inspiration, guidance, and most importantly find God in your life.