Prayables

Here’s today’s selection for upbeat God-loving music as today’s Prayable Pick!

Look at it this way: there’s a great big hodge-podge of religious beliefs, bumping up against one another, each catching the religious residue of its neighbor.

Chrislam, Conservadox, and Cashews are just some of the oxymorons that make up this interesting and often humorous mix of religions.

Chrislam is a sect where followers recognize both the Bible and the Qur’an as holy texts. Apparently this religion values the written word. Chrislam is like the nerdy over-achiever, who reads text books for fun even though the teacher is not giving extra credit.

Conservadox is the new name for Jews whose beliefs and practices place them somewhere between the more liberal conservative Jewish practices and the stricter Orthodox Jewish practices. You know the type; they find the loopholes. The Conservadox Jew will eat “trayf” (non-kosher food) on paper plates or watch a football game on the Sabbath if the T.V happens to be already turned on.

Religious Humanism rejects biblically revealed knowledge, theism-based morality and miracles. Yet, it’s nothing short of miraculous to watch a Humanist pray, without mentioning God!

Messianic Jews blend evangelical Christian theology with elements of Jewish terminology and ritual. They consider themselves Jewish, yet believe that Jesus is the Messiah. When I think Jews for Jesus, I think of the joke; “What’s the first question a Jew asks the Messiah when redemption comes? ‘…So, you been here before?’ ”

Cashews –A person or couple who is half Catholic and half Jewish. This religious merger has a corner on the guilt market. There are endless possibilities for new stereotypes of Cashews. The book; Eat, Pray, Love, takes on a whole new meaning when Jewish cooking and Catholic prayer get together in “Cashew Love.”

Whether it’s a hybrid religion like Chrislam, or one that’s as pure as the heavens above, it’s not an oxymoron to respect the beliefs of another. It seems clear, we honor our Creator by honoring all of His creations. We are the hodge-podge God made.

Will you then compel mankind, against their will, to believe? No soul can believe, except by the Will of God.
Qur’an 10.99-100

Each day is a blessing
of epic proportions.
I give thanks for
what might seem meager comforts:
real cream in my coffee,
a day without a bill in the mail,
Paso Doble, the Spanish two-step.
Sometimes life is a dance
a woman has to do backwards
pushing against the wind
and obstacles in the way.
Thank You for being the partner
who always leads.

-Ruth Williams

Carmen was ticked off, and she earned it, illness, delinquent child, drunken husband, and unemployment. You name it, if it’s bad, it happens to Carmen.

She wasn’t coping well. One of Carmen’s methods to address her misfortune was to talk to God. Her conversations went something like this, “Please God, cure my cancer and I’ll believe in you.” Conditional belief. Ask and receive; God is good. No response; proof positive— there is no God.

Everything changed at a funeral mass. The priest delivered a message that got through to her. With the death of her good friend, came the birth of a new awareness. She finally understood; times of trouble are when faith in God needs to be strongest.

God doesn’t need to be bargained with, debated, or even questioned. Carmen learned to love God unconditionally, and to believe in the goodness of God, unconditionally.

Life is never on our terms. There is a much grander plan for us than we can see while here on Earth. Believe, and you will know the wisdom of God’s work. Believe and you will see the miracle of God’s creation.