Religion?? Me???

For those of you that know me, you know that religion is something I am usually more against than for. I find most religious sorts to be fanatical at times and for the most part hypocrites. Like most things, I think the idea is nice and all but really doesnt play out very well in reality. Most of the bloodshed of the world happened because of religion. People do many crazy things in its name and twist the Bible to say what they want it to. However, let us not confuse religion with faith.

A very good friend of mine believes in God wholeheartedly and through the years we have pretty much come to the understanding that it is a subject we don't discuss because it can only go in one bad direction. This weekend she gave me a gift. It was a personalized Bible with a journal to jot down thoughts in when I felt so inclined. Normally I would have politely taken it and said my thank you's in a moment that had me feeling awkward and it would have ended up buried in a drawer with a bunch of other stuff that never sees the light of day. Instead I felt nothing but love and was extremely grateful for it. No one has ever given me a Bible before and the fact that it came from her meant everything. I guess you could say I felt loved. We may not always agree on the subject but it is one she holds dear and believes in wholeheartedly. The fact that she believes it helped her and loved me enough to want to extend the help to me was enough to make a little book seem very special.

Right now, I need all the help I can get. She knows this and if there is a God, whether he cares or not, it could not have escaped his attention. So, every night I will simply open it and read something. Call it an experiment if you will. Maybe it will help, maybe I will learn something, who knows. Worse case scenario, I miss 3 minutes out of my day and I know I have wasted a lot more time on a lot less. So starts night one of my religious experiment.