My First Thought...

we were required to read this book from our required religion class, and my first thought was, 'gosh this is going to be stupid'. i was sure i would just roll my eyes through the whole thing...but i was quite wrong. it's not the best book ive ever read, but there were some great great thoughts in it. here's one of my favorites:

"Spirituality, in general, has more to do with process than with results. Perhaps this is why contemporary culture, fanatically oriented towards results, has such a difficult time with spirituality."

here's another thought...talking about uncertainty and faith...
"The quest for certainty undermines trust. Intolerance for uncertainty results from the absence of a certain basic trust, informed by a strong belief that the future could not possibly turn out OK for me unless i manipulate things and people in order to make it come out OK."

"...faith has more to do with trust than it does with belief."

I should point out that when he talks about 'certainty', he's talking about leaving no room for uncertainty. Sure we can be certain of certain things...but we sure get scared when there's things we cannot map out or put our heads around or mold into the way we want. Some things about God are meant to be mysteries...meant to remain unexplained. when moses (it was moses right?) asked God who he should tell is sending him, Gods response is "I AM". tell them "I AM" sent you. i mean, "CERTAINLY" this God is much bigger than we can fit into our little religious boxes....