I am someone who does not believe in the idea that one MUST exclusively claim Jesus as savior to be able to learn and grow from the example and possibility of Jesus.
I see Jesus in the face of many, past and present.
I witness the divine presence of God in ALL.
Whatever faith is claimed, God is present.
Whatever Savior is chosen, God is present.
Whenever backs may be turned, God is present.
Whether I recite a Buddhist mantra or pray in a Shinto shrine, I connect with the same transcendent light which shines forth within All.
Thus it is also true to say I have no particular religion.
Instead, I am a person of faith in spirit — immanent, transcendent, boundless, and ineffable.
A spirit holy, sacred, divine, and life-giving.
On breath within and without, I am witness to this infinite and eternal flow, however it may appear in this moment — for there is no limit to God except within the human mind.
For me, spiritual life is a journey of learning to step beyond limits and live present to God as infinite and eternal divine possibility.
Sometimes, God comes to me as silence.
Sometimes as wind, or tears, or laughter.
Sometimes as the face of the stranger who offers a hand when I’ve fallen.
Sometimes as stillness deep in my gut before I speak.
Sometimes as the surge of energy behind a no I finally had the courage to say.
God is not confined by scripture, dogma, ritual, or creed.
God is not small. God is not fixed. God is not angry or punishing or excluding.
God is present — in the expansion, in the breath, in the tender willingness to keep walking.
I walk in the presence of God not because I belong to the right group.
I walk because I breathe. Because I listen. Because I refuse to pretend that love comes with rules and loopholes.
Faith, for me, is not a proclamation. It is a presence.
God is not earned. God is already here.
