Shoulder Taps

​This entry will not have a thing to do with Washington D.C., the President, the situation with Venezuela…but I have been tapped on the shoulder to write this.

Recently, I received this “cartoon” via the internet.  I looked at it and thought, that is me.  That is how I came about my belief and faith in God…or Allah…or Yahweh…or Abba.  To me, even though the faith systems may be different, it all reflects in the belief of a Supreme Being, if you will…whom I call God.

My folks never took me to church.  My upbringing wasn’t fashioned in the thought of religion.  About the only “religion” I knew about was playing ball and trying to become better at my chosen sports.  As I look back on my early years as a teenager, I have often wondered about how great the improvement in natural talent would have been for me, and all others with whom I played, could have been with the technology now available.  I grew up in the era of “see the ball, hit the ball”.  That was my “religion”.

Along the way, friends of mine invited me to go to church with them.  And so, I did.  As a junior in high school, me and two of my friends decided to go to the local Methodist Church.  We attended regularly and even went to Sunday School classes until one day, our Sunday School instructor was upset that we posed a question regarding God and Science she couldn’t answer.  We were asked to leave and not return.
  
I have always been somewhat scientific in my thinking.  I understand what probable truth means and what absolute truth means.  I trusted the scientific method to provide answers…but absolute truth demands accepting the truth without proof…blind faith.  I wasn’t ready for that.

Another high school friend invited me to attend his church, the Church of Latter-Day Saints.  I thought it was a great idea, because of their youth programs and that church had the best-looking girls in town.  My faith didn’t grow, but I learned a great deal about the Mormon Church.  Some people consider that faith a cult; I would disagree.  Certainly, that faith system has some tenets unlike other faith systems, but all in all, in my opinion, it isn’t a cult.  (As it turned out, many years later, I would be invited to speak at a Farewell Sacrament Service for one of the missionaries who was called to a mission for the church.)
 
I met a guy in college, just by chance.  Pat Bonnet was his name.  If memory serves me correctly, he was a Canadian who happened to play college football.  Because of my past of playing football, we bonded.  Amazingly, Pat and I sat and he asked me about my “resistance” to accepting God.  I told him that wasn’t the case, I just couldn’t square it in my mind.  Then Pat offered this analogy, one that I understood.  Pat told me, just like your football coach in college who developed a game plan for the upcoming game, God has a game plan for you, but you don’t know what it is.  You just have to trust God.  Trust God.  That stuck with me.

I was married in the Episcopal Church.  That is what my bride to be wanted and I said yes.  Up until that time, I had no real affiliation with a church, and my faith was still a loose connection of yes there is a God, but…If it wasn’t for my wife, I don’t know if I would have been able to understand what some call the mystery of faith. 

Our teaching careers gave us the opportunity to move about to different areas of the state.  Some decisions were by choice, others not.  Between the desire to move from one locale to another, and the dreaded reduction in force…we picked up and moved.  But we always had a way to stay grounded by finding an Episcopal church.

We have been married for over 50 years, and have had the chance to reflect on our time together and events that took place for which there is no explanation.  It would be easy to say we have been blessed.  It would be easy to say we put our trust in God.  But, to me, that would just be talk.

Over the years, we have had the urge to help people out.  Where the urge came from, I initially didn’t know.  But one day I heard a cleric talking about “shoulder taps”.  It was explained as if someone touched you on the shoulder to do something to help a person.  I believe in shoulder taps and I believe those “shoulder taps” come from God.  So did the cleric.
  
And with that, I certainly believe God tapped my shoulder and provided divine guidance on numerous times…finding a woman who could put up with me for over 50 years, for a daughter who has put up with me her entire life, for a grandson that means everything to me, and for the life I have been privileged to live.

Included in my life, I have met many, many people who have enriched my existence.  I will not list names because there are far too many, but from the faculty at Holbrook High School to Carl Hayden Community High School and those in between, I have been led by God to meet some fascinating teachers and students and athletes.  I couldn’t be more grateful for the relationships forged by divine guidance.  

What I have learned is that one may not realize the impact faith in God may have had in your life, until you retrospectively examine your life’s journey.  I am of the opinion all people have had “things” happen in their life that are unexplainable.  I know my wife and I have had more than a fair share of those unexplainable “things” happen to us.  Some may call it a miracle, other, just say it must be fate, or coincidence.  I believe it to be divine intervention.

Some people have a “shoulder tap” to do something for someone and when asked, why, the answer sometimes is “I don’t know, I just wanted to do it”.  My assertion is God tapped your shoulder.

As I wrote earlier, I have been tapped on the shoulder to write this article.  With all of that being said, and this being the season of joy and love, please let me say “Merry Christmas “.  I hope you all have a day filled with happiness and love, and create memories that last a lifetime.