Little Pieces of Spirit
This blog is called "Little Pieces of Spirit" because my experience of God has been through ordinary, concrete things. For example:
Ike was this smiling, friendly guy from India who ran a convenience store next to my technical writing business. As we became friends, I learned that he was a Muslim and his wife a Hindu. Knowing the history of conflict between the two religions in India, I was surprised at how well they got along.
One day, I found out that Ike, who had a couple of kids, had been letting a homeless man live in his basement and had been feeding him. The only reason he told me was that he wanted some money for the man to get back to his relatives in California. I was impressed. I asked myself if I would let a homeless person that I didn't know live in my basement, and I realized I wouldn't. I also realized that very few Christians I knew would either. Who was the homeless man's true neighbor?
Ike's elderly mother in law came to visit from India. While here she had a heart attack. She had no health insurance, so Ike pledged to pay the hospital for her by-pass operation. He laughed when telling me about it, and called it his “mortgage without a house.” "What can you do!" he said, "God bless!"
Chris, a former Roman Catholic priest who had presided over my wife's conversion to Catholicism while he was still a priest, continued to serve people as a social worker after he left the priesthood. A friend gave Chris a brand new Honda Civic because Chris didn't care about possessions and just got around the best he could. Chris was working in St. Louis and met a homeless man on the street. After knowing Chris awhile, the man asked to borrow Chris' car. Chris lent it to him, and the man stole it. Chris told me, "David, I guess he needed it more than I did," and shrugged his shoulders. The friend who gave Chris the car got mad at Chris, but, of course, not for long. Chris was being Chris whom we all loved. A week or two later, the police found the car in good shape. Chris kind of shrugged his shoulders again and resumed his possession.
The art, poetry, essays, etc. that I post here all represent encounters with the Extraordinary in the ordinary--with God in us. Namaste! (God in me recognizes God in you.)
Copyright 2006 by M. David Orr
Ike was this smiling, friendly guy from India who ran a convenience store next to my technical writing business. As we became friends, I learned that he was a Muslim and his wife a Hindu. Knowing the history of conflict between the two religions in India, I was surprised at how well they got along.
One day, I found out that Ike, who had a couple of kids, had been letting a homeless man live in his basement and had been feeding him. The only reason he told me was that he wanted some money for the man to get back to his relatives in California. I was impressed. I asked myself if I would let a homeless person that I didn't know live in my basement, and I realized I wouldn't. I also realized that very few Christians I knew would either. Who was the homeless man's true neighbor?
Ike's elderly mother in law came to visit from India. While here she had a heart attack. She had no health insurance, so Ike pledged to pay the hospital for her by-pass operation. He laughed when telling me about it, and called it his “mortgage without a house.” "What can you do!" he said, "God bless!"
Chris, a former Roman Catholic priest who had presided over my wife's conversion to Catholicism while he was still a priest, continued to serve people as a social worker after he left the priesthood. A friend gave Chris a brand new Honda Civic because Chris didn't care about possessions and just got around the best he could. Chris was working in St. Louis and met a homeless man on the street. After knowing Chris awhile, the man asked to borrow Chris' car. Chris lent it to him, and the man stole it. Chris told me, "David, I guess he needed it more than I did," and shrugged his shoulders. The friend who gave Chris the car got mad at Chris, but, of course, not for long. Chris was being Chris whom we all loved. A week or two later, the police found the car in good shape. Chris kind of shrugged his shoulders again and resumed his possession.
The art, poetry, essays, etc. that I post here all represent encounters with the Extraordinary in the ordinary--with God in us. Namaste! (God in me recognizes God in you.)
Copyright 2006 by M. David Orr
posted by David Orr | 9:33 AM
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