One of my passions is sailing. A few days ago, I had an opportunity to go sailing with a friend of mine. We were plotting an escape for a few days to the Allegany Reservoir. Once the details for that trip were discussed, the conversation drifted to faith.He is Catholic, and he told of a book he was reading by Thomas Merton. He enjoys the contemplative prayer that Merton wrote of. He has also read several books on spirituality of the early church leaders (St. Theresa, etc). He has been to the Abbey of the Genesee monastery and has had long conversations with Brothers there. I enjoyed our conversation because I could tell he was trying his best to get closer to God, and that’s the best anyone can hope for.
We talked about some of the Bible readings he does, and prayers, etc. It was encouraging and even exciting to see that we do some of the same disciplines each day. It’s exciting to know that when I read through the daily office, that hundreds or thousands of others are doing the same. While I spending time alone with God, I am yet spending time with thousands of others as well. That’s something to think about…
I know that some of you might write off this conversation as soon as you heard that he was Catholic, but let me assure you that I have no doubt that he is born-again, and he is as serious about his faith as anyone else I know.
Let me ask you, are your disciplines bringing you closer to God? Are you reading your Bible daily, spending time in prayer, daily devotions, or other meditations? I would love to know what you do to grow your faith. Leave a comment, you will be encouraging many others.
3 comments:
This is a small community, probably about half the people are Catholic. They are our friends and neighbors, the same people we know and see regularly and work together with to try to improve life here. There are theological differences, but they tend to mostly disappear in the day to day reality of life in a somewhat difficult place to live.
Many other places are not like this.
I am glad that to hear that you still sail.. I know you loved it when younger.
I wrote about you loving sailing when younger. your older cousin trying to reach you.. but has no e-mail address
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