June Challenge

Hello friends,

After a brief hiatus, we are back with the Monastic Challenge. Admittedly, the media fast challenge was a pretty boring one in the blogosphere.

Okay. Here we go:

-Do at least one random act of kindness a day.

That's it. Whatever you interpret that to be. Helping an old lady across the street, buying a homeless guy lunch, whatever.

We'll talk more about the ins and outs of this challenge over the coming days.

------------

As an aside, I had a religious experience a little while ago that's still settling.

Most of the time, I always associated "religious experiences" as just a rush of positive emotion or well-being. Well, I am man enough to admit when I'm wrong.

Wait. Let's back up.

I was with a buddy at a bar in North Hollywood, when he's telling me a story about how he had stumbled into a church group for men. Something like "Authentic Manhood". And in the meeting, a line really jumped out to him.

"God, open the eyes of my heart."

So he goes to this park, sits on a bench, and says, "Okay, God. Open the eyes of my heart. I'm here, God. I'm waiting."

And something HAPPENED. He suddenly felt the presence of God in the middle of this park---the trees, the wind, everything. I still don't know why, but as he's telling me this story, I completely lose it. I start crying in the middle of this crowded, meat-market bar. It's crazy.

So, a couple of hours later, I head back to my apartment. Street parking in the area sucks, so I had a bit of a walk. As I'm on the sidewalk, I decide to say the line. "God, open the eyes of my heart. God, open the eyes of my heart."

And something HAPPENED.

You know when you're at the eye doctor and they have the little lenses over your eyes? And the doctor says "Is it clearer now? Or now?" while flipping lenses. Well, it was as if someone had flipped a big lens over and everything became clear.

And I don't mean metaphorically clear. I mean my actual eyesight became a hundred times clearer. I could see the details on the leaves of the trees, the cracks in the sidewalk. A stop sign jumped out at me with a sharpness I have never seen in my life.

(Now, as another quick aside: With my contacts in, I have better-than-normal vision. About 20/15. And my contacts were in. And my vision wasn't blurry at all before the experience. )

At the same time, an incredible sense of peace washed over me. And for the first time, I truly felt the presence of God in me and all around me.