I Saw God Today

The video below is for the song I Saw God Today by George Strait.  There isn't an official video but this one had good sound quality...I digress. 

Every time I hear this song I can't help but wonder how anyone could not believe in God.  It doesn't have to be my idea of God...any god.  How can people think that everything is an accident.  I get people who don't care if there is a God, but I don't get not believing at all.  The first time I saw my son as a blip on the ultrasound screen I felt like I had seen God.  Every time I've seen him since has brought back that same feeling..that's why I love this song. 

 

There are a lot of little moments throughout the day where I see God.  Where do you see God?

A Quiet Place

My Inner World is one of my favorite spiritual websites.  There are a ton of ways to calm down and focus on yourself and your connection with others.  It isn't religious, but then my blog is more about faith and spirituality so I guess that's ok :)  One of my favorite things is the wishing well.  You make a wish (write it on a rock) and then toss it into the well.  You can make your wish public for others to read or private.  There is also this place where you can toss your problems into a fire.  Great graphics and sound effects make it feel real.  Love it.  There is a garden where you can plant ideas and dreams a meditation area and a self discovery castle.  I really think this website has helped me relax and get more into the spiritual side of myself.

Give it a try and let me know what you think :)

Guilt

You know sometimes I wish I had a religion that made you not feel guilty. Like Catholics. From what I understand if they do something wrong they just get to ask a priest to forgive them then they get instant forgiveness and they don't have to wonder for the rest of their lives if they are going to be forgiven. I know there are rules (when aren't there rules) but mostly that's it. Heck that's the way it was in my little Baptist church except you cut out the middle man and asked God.
It kind of sucks that now I'm not sure if God will forgive me for things, even when I'm not sure if what I've done is wrong but I still feel bad. You know, like when you upset someone you really didn't want to upset or you let a friend down? You say the wrong thing when you were really trying to say the right thing...maybe that only happens to me.
I like the philosophy of the religions that say to let go of things like guilt and live in the now...wish I could do it more effectively.
Taoist philosophy...take the least resistant path..be like water... but how does that help with my guilt?!

Blog Name

I completely flaked yesterday and forgot to write in my blog at all. I know for now I’m mostly writing to myself anyway but nonetheless

I'm back and at a loss of what to talk about.  Usually I have about a billion different things I'm thinking of in regards to spirituality but now that I've started the blog I go all blank.  Doesn't that just figure?  So I've decided to answer a question I figure all of you (when there is an all) will have. 

Where did I get the blog name?

I'm so glad you asked.  A good friend of mine, JD (initials, we don't actually call him JD), used that as his closing in all of his emails.  He's not really the blogger type yet so I asked him if he'd care if I used it because it fits the way I feel about spirituality perfectly.  Oddly enough he's a rather conservative, orthodox Christian and I don't see him ever losing his religion...I always thought it a rather ironic closing for him actually.  Nevertheless, he's a wonderful guy and he was nice enough to let me swipe his slogan :)  Thanks buddy!  Oh and JD if you're reading this you are too conservative AND orthodox. ;op

Keeping My Faith

As I mentioned in my last post I lost my religion around the time I turned sixteen.  I am now thirty and consider myself to still have a great deal of faith.  Actually, I've kept my faith the entire time.  I know for sure that God is there.  It's the details I'm all confused about.  For the longest time (really even before I was sixteen) I've been interested in all religions.  Their beliefs, their practices, their histories.  I think it is as interesting as some people find sports, or fashion, or I don't know whatever hobby they are interested in.  I think all of my studying has made my faith stronger and I look forward every day to learning something new.

This blog and the website I'm making to go along with it are all going to be a part of my exploration of faith and my attempt to build a community to discuss, learn, and grow with.  I hope you will join me on my journey.

Lose your religion.  Keep your faith. 

Keep your faith.

Losing My Religion

I was taken to church, southern Baptist if you were wondering, every time the doors were open.  My Granny loved church and I loved it too.  I loved the music (still love southern gospel), I loved the people, and I loved learning.  My Sunday school teachers use to get a kick out of me asking the most random questions and more often than not they didn't know the answer.  I would ask how dinosaurs could come first if the bible said people came first and Mrs. M would just laugh and say she didn't know.  (this was long before it was vogue to talk about creationism vs evolution). 

One day around the time I was fifteen or sixteen our new pastor wanted me to pray aloud for the Sunday school class.  I politely declined because I had never been comfortable praying in public.  Heck, I don't like talking in public period.  But more than that I figured what I had to say to God was private and I didn't want to put on a dog and pony show for anyone else.  So, I said no.  Then he and the entire class began to tell me that if I denied Jesus then when I died Jesus would deny me.  Well!  I didn't say anything at the time to defend myself (for example, I wasn't denying Jesus AND Jesus also said to pray in private and not to do it to look good for other people) but I walked out of class and left the church.  That was pretty the straw for my little back.  There had been other things but that was the last thing.  Ever since then I have been exploring other religions in depth.  Prior to that I was looking into other beliefs but if I asked questions most people (here in the Bible belt) told me those other beliefs didn't matter and that they were the work of the devil.  Ahh, living in a small town. 

Thus, I lost my religion.