Dear Gym Guy,
First of all let me say that I think it’s really great that you are on the “Pep Squad” at the Y, especially at your age (70? 75?). Your helpful advice about my rowing machine technique and offer of assistance with back exercises was very kind . . . Hey, you’re a cool old guy.
I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation with the lady on the exercycle next to mine this morning—I mean, you were talking pretty loud. And it made me sad—a bit mad, even—but mostly really sad.
When you said it annoys you to hear people refer to the world as “God’s Creation”?
When you ridiculed people who believe that God actually made the world?
When you called into question their intelligence in not swallowing evolution as the gospel truth? That all made me rather mad. I even felt a bit insulted—after all I am one of those people (and I think I’m a reasonably intelligent person).
But the bit that really got to me was when you said how ridiculous it is to believe in the supernatural, but that you still go to church because you like the company—that made me really sad.
Sad because the supernatural is all around you, yet here you are in the closing chapters of your life, and you’ve never experienced it. Not one miracle? Not one unexplainable event? Not one whisper of the peace that passes understanding?
That’s so sad! How can it be that you’ve been going to church all your life and never once felt God’s presence? Never known that tingle that rushes over you at the wonder of God’s creation, the miracle of a new baby, the glory of a majestic sunset . . .
I see God’s fingerprints everywhere, but you have walked through your whole life believing that what you see is what you get. There’s so much more!
I won’t argue the science with you because I am no expert, but I will say that whichever process God used to create this universe, He did an amazing job designing it (our world is so finely balanced and intricately detailed, it must have been planned that way).
And I do know that without the supernatural whisper of God in my life, I would have been lost. I’ve known ‘the peace the passes understanding’1 washing over me in the midst of a crisis. I’ve felt the indescribable joy that comes when I’ve had a brush with the unexplainable.
You can’t explain my faith away. With all your science you couldn’t convince me that my God is not real, alive, amazing and infinite. Through all the ups and downs of life, I have become more and more convinced that He really is love.
All that is good, all that is beauty, all that is love—those are His echoes.
I’m so sad that you can’t see it. I’m sad that you sit in church week after week, listening to words you don’t believe through force of habit (and because maybe you are lonely?) but you have never felt His touch, His whisper, His peace.
So I will pray for you. I’ll pray that the knowledge you arm yourself with will not be able to withstand the overpowering goodness of Your Creator. I’ll pray that His love will find a chink in your armour, that His peace will flood your heart and you’ll realise He is real, despite all your scientific prowess and well-thought-out arguments.
Love,
The Girl on the Bike Next to Yours
xx
- Philippians 4:7, NLT
- The Black Cloud by Simone Graham
- Walking With A Limp by Simone Graham
- The Climb by Simone Graham
- Stormy by Simone Graham
