God Stuff

 "But for the grace of god . . . "

I hate that phrase.  It sounds like god is picking and choosing who goes to where the angels fly and who goes to the lake of fire . . .  to fry.  I don't think god is a prick.  "OK, you - heaven.  You - burn in a lake of fire for all eternity."  This doesn't jibe with all those pictures I've seen of a beatific Jeebus gazing prayerfully into the distance.  It's too cruel to think of an illiterate child in rural Pakistan banished to the lake of fire because he had the wrong religious belief.

Also, now that I think about it . . . god doesn't do things for me.  God doesn't do anything.  God just is.  If I'm drinking and I want to get sober then I'm expected . . . by god . . . to use the tools that god has given me.  God isn't a candy machine.  God isn't a taxi service.  God is inspiration.

I was going to a meeting at a jail in Cincinnati that was full of young guys who lived in really crappy neighborhoods that had really crappy schools.  I felt bad for them.  If I wanted to get drugs I had to make a few phone calls and then take a drive.  I couldn't just walk down to the corner.  To my eye god had dealt them a shitty hand.

An old friend said this to me: "Don't let those guys snow you, man.  They can get sober just like anyone else."