can you see the face of God?

Monday August 17th, Proverbs 9: Wisdom says to those who lack judgment. "Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding. There is an old saying from the world war days, “there are no atheists in fox holes.” It is the simple, those without all the know it all demeanor that are open to learning, just as it is the person in a fox hole, with bullets flying overhead, who finds themselves stripped of all pretense of being in control, who can finally hear God. That is why the born again experience, while in practice in the 21st century west is a bit theologically suspect, is so powerful an experience. It is often the moment we hit bottom, when we find ourselves stripped of all pretenses, that we can finally see God who was there with open arms all along. What they are open to learn is the way of God. It is very hard to teach someone who knows it all, the first step to hearing the word of God is to drop what you think it says. Today we have a religious atmosphere in which the fundamentalists of all the major religions are busy fighting other fundamentalists, and sometimes calling them names like terrorists. Fundamentalists see black and white, for us or against us. It is the simple that see a sea of gray and are willing to ask God to help them navigate the ups and downs of life and know that God is with them through it all who can see the face of God.