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Yes, I truly believe in God - God, the Father; God, the Son; God, the Holy Spirit. I believe in the God of my church, the Holy Trinity. After all, this is the convention of my religion.
Now, after saying all that, let me say that what they have all told me about in the various churches isn't quite all of the God I've come to know. To me, He's much more than that. Have I "been saved"? I believe I have been. I believe I've been saved from a life of loneliness, a life of despair, a life of not knowing why I'm here. I believe I've been saved from a life without knowing God.
When did I come to know God? I think I've known Him all my life. The older I get, the better I know Him. When I was young, I knew He was watching over me to keep me from getting hurt - this is knowing God, as a child. As I grew, my understanding of God grew with me. I was 20 years old when I finally met God, face-to-face so to speak.
Also, please note that I don't say I know Jesus. Jesus is part of God - He Is God, The Son. I know God, the God of the Holy Trinity, the Total God.
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I've always loved walking around, seeing the sights - I'm a born tourist. I'm also fairly independent and I enjoy being with myself. This isn't conceit, this is knowing me and liking what I know. Anyway, one quiet morning while I was stationed at Syracuse University, way back in 1968, I took a walk in a new direction that I hadn't gone before - out, away from town and the university campus, into the rural "backwoods" around Syracuse. I'd only gone a few miles when I found myself on the top of a tree-studded hill, overlooking the entire valley that Syracuse sits in. It was beautiful, an absolutely wondrous location, and I pretty much decided that I'd spend awhile there - just enjoying the quiet, the peace, and the beauty of the location. Back then, it wasn't easy to just "chill out" - too much going on in my life.
Anyway, to make a long story short, as I was enjoying the summer day I got to thinking about my life; where I was headed with the military, what I wanted to accomplish, what I'd have to do to accomplish it - all that sort of stuff. VietNam was going strong during that period of time and the anti-war rallies were tearing the country apart, the race riots were still burning down the inner cities, the flower children were searching for "Aquarius", and I guess you could say I was trying to "find myself".
Gradually, I was hit with this thought that I wasn't alone out there. I could definitely feel someone nearby. Ever get the feeling, for no particular reason, that somebody's watching? This was pretty much it - somebody was there besides me. I listened to myself, to nothing in particular really, and the thoughts just started coming, from nowhere. Before long, I was sure of my future - I was sure of everything. My doubts about the military were gone, my doubts about my own ability were gone. I knew where I was going, and I knew that everything would be just fine.
Afterward, as I thought back on that summer afternoon, I realized what had really happened. This had been my first "face-to-face" meeting with God. Sure wish I'd known it at the time - I'd had a zillion questions that I'd have liked to ask. Doesn't matter though, the questions that were first and foremost were taken care of quite nicely.
The next time I met God was a few years later - and this time I knew what I was doing when I met Him. Susan and I'd been married for a few years and we were on our second tour in Alaska. I'd intended to go out flying my model airplanes - well, that was the intention. I actually got out to my flying site and had everything set up, ready to go when I decided to stop and ask some advice. You see, we were expecting our first child and I had the "fatherhood jitters" pretty bad. I was worried about everything. So, I simply sat down overlooking the city of Anchorage from the mountain I was on and started formulating questions in my mind. It seemed that as soon as I had the question properly formed, the answer was there right beside it. Would the baby be OK; sure, why not? Would Susan and I be able to raise him/her decently; sure, why not? The questions kept coming, the answers right along with them. Once again, everything would be just fine.
I spent the rest of the day flying my models. There'd been no burning bush, no altars, no stately priests, no pomp and circumstance of any kind, just God and me.
As time went on, I got to talking with God more and more. I've come to realize that I don't have to be "alone in the wilderness", so to speak, to talk to Him. I talk to Him all the time actually, and he rarely - if ever - fails to answer my never-ending questions. I've gotten to the point that I consider Him to be the one true friend I have that will never leave me.
Do I know God? I sure do, He's my best friend!
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God is a constant companion of mine. To see some of the more interesting incidents in my life that He's helped me through, just click anywhere in my Chapel Directory, the various items take you to various events in my life in which God has talked with me, or directly helped me in some way. Also in the Chapel Directory are some of my favorite poems and a bit of humor that I just couldn't resist.
Every page in the Chapel has a copy of this directory.
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| DIRECTORY |
Music: The Power Of Your Hand
(You can view the actual musical score pages by RIGHT-clicking on each of the two names below and opening each of the two pages in a new window. One leads into the other - together they're the entire musical score. Once that's done and you have them, simply click on the music title line above and you can sing along with the music)
The Power Of Your Hand-1 The Power Of Your Hand-2
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