Frogs and Jesus....

I was in the gym today jigglin the extra parts of me...At one point I was on the tredmill...running....so extra jigglin was going on while I sang to the rhythm of Sean Paul on my headphones....but that is not the point. I was running and I happened to look up as a woman wearing a white shirt was walking towards me. I instantly was drawn to her white shirt that had a large bullfrog on the front. At first I thought, "Oh cool she likes frogs." but then I read around her shirt...it said, "Before you croak, know Jesus!"

I almost fell off my treadmill..my pace was interrupted as I did a double take. This was a first! Jesus and frogs....ok...anything goes I guess. I laughed...out loud...I think she heard me. But the whole notion on how to get the word of the Lord out to the masses with amphibians was comical. Is this how we do in the Bible belt? LOL! I wondered where did she get that shirt. At God camp? A Christian book store? Wherever she got it she should return it....the frog alone was just silly! As I mocked her internally I felt like God wanted to send me a message...so My Life is in you Hands by Kirk Franklin and the Family came over my headphones....how apropu!

It got me thinking...this thing called religion and faith. It starts wars, it moves people to do amazing good and unspeakable wrong. There are religious leaders that if they spoke, masses would follow like blind sheep. Powerful stuff this religion. So where does it play a role in our lives...in my life? And why was I struck so hard by this woman's outward sign of faith....manifested in a frog?

Raised Roman Catholic (yea I know...I've been told I'm like on the only black Roman Catholic people know...go figure!) I was in church most Sundays....a stint in Catholic school....all the sacraments from Baptism to Confirmation....and then a friend of mine died my senior year of high school. I remember going to the funeral and listening to the priest and I felt nothing. No comfort, no solace, nothing. I was angry with the man hanging on the crucifix. Very angry...so I let go of church. Stopped going all together. I never stopped believing....just wasn't feeling this institutionalized, structured, celibate man telling me what to do kinda of religion.

However, if you know anything about Roman Catholicism you would know that we are kinda private about our worship. Mon-Sat (unless you go to 5pm mass on Sat, then it's Mon-Fri...LOL) you do as you please and on Sunday you go to church, repent, take some communion and all is forgiven and you can go out an sin some more. No stomping, clapping and fallin out in our masses...OH NO!!! Very calm and reserved....i tell you this, those WWJD bracelets did not start with us! So even though I was trying to separate myself from my RC roots....i never could get comfortable with people or atmospheres that in my opinion were hyper or uber religious. I feel like it's private and it is between me and my God and when other people but their faith in my face....it scares me. Makes me uncomfortable. Like this woman's shirt....weird huh?

But not all is loss...I found Jesus this year. He was hanging out at St. Meinrad Monastery in Southern Indiana. I was there on business in Feb, but I got to spend time with some really cool monks and for a couple of days I remembered the beauty of my faith. Of course I engaged in heated but civil conversations about our religion with the monks expressing my disgust with the churches stand on child molestation by priests, homosexuality, and pre-marital sex....but I also got to watch monks pray in Latin at 5AM and watch novices take their 1st vows into the monk-hood...that was cool....it felt good to bear witness to that kind of devotion. I even sat for confession....for the first time in over 11years....that was really weird (and contrary to popular belief it did not take that long...:) Either way...in my own personal and private way I felt close to God and it inspired me to be a better version of me...

So today I claim deeply spiritual rather than religious. I think we should live our lives in a manner for others to follow...do good on to others and wish the best for all friends and foes....sounds good, right? Maybe I should get a shirt that says, "Before you croak, do something nice for someone else!" I feel like my shirt would have the same meaning as the gym lady....with a more palatable approach......ribbit!

Get at me....