I’ve been thinking about Nic Sheff and his praying to God for help.  He says that he doesn’t believe it God but doesn’t know what else to do, so he prays.  It appears his prayers are answered.  He doesn’t say it in so many words, but it comes through in his writing.  I figure most cynics would say that it wasn’t God, but something inside Nic or the fact that he prayed and it made him feel better.

I disagree.  I think  God loves us so much, he listens to our prayers even if we don’t believe in Him, even if our prayer is just a stab in the dark.  Nic was denied the opportunity to have faith.  His father was an atheist and while I respect the right of anyone not to believe in God, I think it a big mistake not to give our children a chance.  So in some odd sort of way, maybe drugs were Nic’s search for God.  Bishop Sheen said that many years ago in a book called Lift Up Your Heart.  He said that many people search for God in sex, booze, and drugs.  I think he was right.

I’ve prayed for my children almost every day since they’ve been born.  I still do, and while one couldn’t exactly say it’s a one on one relationship in how they’ve managed to succeed, I think prayer helped.  They are ultimately responsible for their success or failure, but it’s like that poem where a man is talking to Jesus on the beach and there is only one set of footprints in the sand.  It’s because Jesus is carrying him.  (Or at least that Power Greater Than Ourselves)

I often think that God loves us, but he won’t get in our way.  He leaves it up to us.  We can seek him out or not.  He won’t interfere with our free will.   So we’re allowed to make mistakes and do stupid things.  He doesn’t cause evil, but he doesn’t interfere with the free will of evil people.  That’s our job.

I believe God only interferes in our lives when we ask him.  That is prayer, and it makes prayer one of the most powerful things we have as human beings.  We just don’t know it.