Well if the Monkees sing it..... (had to be there), it must be so. For years, I had struggled with the entire preface of organized religion. As a child, church, Sunday school and youth fellowship were a given. I was raised in a small town where church was also our social outlet....at least before my teen years. We had church suppers, holiday events, Tom Thumb weddings, choir practice once a week and of course Sunday services. Then my teens arrived and they actually tore down our church and consolidated with the Moravia Congregational Church to form the Moravia-Locke Methodist church. I'm not sure why, but we didn't make the migration after that. In 1969, my brother died at age 25....My tune changed, as did my Dad's...I no longer was a believer. We had a local town drunk named Hank. He staggered about town daily (and nightly) but my brother was dead! If anyone actually existed "up there", that certainly would not have been a decision he would make. As the pain lessened, the doubts didn't! My Dad was the consummate hypocrite and would openly express his disbelief while contributing monetarily to our transplanted church and it's newly combined congregation. As the years passed and I matured (ok well maybe I just grew), I saw for myself that the power of prayer can be a very good thing. It wasn't until one of Jeff's classmates developed brain cancer that I began to really pray.......and pray that prayers worked..... They did.... from that day, or night on, every night ends with my prayers...I know that not all will be answered but I believe that all will be heard. Today I received an email with my favorite "believer's" message ever...... I'll share:
I would rather live
my life as if there is a God,
And die to find out
there isn't, than live my life
As if there isn't,
and die to find out there is.
Sermon over.....time for coffee!
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