Downtown Berkeley At Lunchtime & God

It’s a cool day in Berkeley, with the typical morning fog gone, and the sun breaking out. Instead of eating lunch, I took a walk around the block to burn about ten of the 50,000 calories I took in this weekend, as my sisters and I took turns to cook and feed our mini-family reunion crowd. .......... Man be baghe erfan.... My older son is at the age when people adjust their childhood images and conceptions, bringing them in line with those they acquire as adults, particularly during their college years. In his humanities courses, he is learning to question religious teachings, so he asks me the kinds of questions an atheist might ask a practicing believer, like asking me to answer tough questions about creation. The problem with the scenario he poses, though, is that neither he is a real atheist, nor am I a real practicing religious individual; therefore our discussion sort of turns into an "agreement" shortly after we start! Take, for example, the discussion we had about God this weekend.The most profound thing I said (if I may say so myself!) about this in our conversation, was that "My brand of spirituality works for me!" And the most profound thing he said was "It is so hard not to believe in God, because then it's just you, all by yourself. When I believed in God, whenever I was in a bind or when I had a tough test, I used to ask God to help me and then I would feel better, but now I can't do that. I'm on my own." I laughed and said to him "No, you're not on your own, because even when you stop asking God to help you, he will still help you because I asked him in MY prayers to help you!"