On Faith

So I'm not exactly sure what I want to say regarding This
story about the death of an eleven year old girl in Wisconsin. It lends
itself toward wonderful sensationalism in that the parents "prayed rather
than seek medical help," believed she died because they "didn't have enough
faith," and the mother at least still believes the girl can be resurrected.
They also don't attend or ascribe to any organized religion, but have a
little bible-study with a handful of people. So they're "just religious
crazies."

So there's not a lot to say, there. "God helps those who help themselves."
But that got me thinking about my own faith or, as I've lamented to some of
my friends, lack thereof. I mean, I believe in God, I trust in the tenents
of my religion, I obey the rules (as best I can). But my faith has lost a
lot of the fire that I used to have. I still believe, but it's more
of a simple intellectual belief -- like believing in relativity or quantum
mechanics, nice little things that explain how the world works but don't
have any direct influence on my day-to-day life. I have no faith, no
trust in God. If I don't do it, it won't get done; no one else is looking
out for me.

And to be honest, I hate having that attidude; it's dumb. I know lots of
other people, friends and family, want to see me happy, healthy, and
successful. It just feels like time and time again my experience has
been that you can't rely on people. I don't think I've been let down
by anyone, and I certainly don't think I've been betrayed.

The point is that I don't have a strong prayer life, I don't expect
miracles, and if bad things happen I'm more likely to ascribie it to a lack
of action on my part than anything else.