Do you believe in God? How’s that for an in-your-face question?

Does God turn you off? Or are you a Believer? No matter what, consider what I’ve come to believe.

When I was a little boy I remember praying, “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

We went to church every Easter and Christmas Eve.

We got married in my former wife’s church. Had our two daughters baptized. And continued.the holidays tradition.

18 years later my wife ran off with her boss and my world fell apart. I prayed she’d come back. My prayers went unanswered.

I attended counseling with a minster. Again, nothing worked.

When I totaled my car into a tree the policeman asked me, “Do you believe in God? You should be dead.”

A few years later I still wanted to die, but out of sheer desperation I asked a 65-year-old banker named O.K. Sheffield to be my mentor because he smiled all the time and said he was happy, joyous and free.

O.K. asked me to do one thing: call him every day because if I was thinking about something we needed to talk about it. I did just that. And we talked about everything. My former marriage. My job that I hated. Losing our home and our life savings.

O.K. met my two daughters, my mom and dad. Everyone liked him.

Now here’s the most-amazing thing. O.K. never told me to do anything. When I had a problem. Trust me I had a ton of them. He would share with me his experience, strength, and hope.

For example, when he hated his boss at the bank, he prayed for him.

I prayed for my boss, “O.K. tells me to pray for the SOB, so consider this my prayer. Amen.” After only a few days, miraculously I got bored hating him.

A few months later my boss fired me. Even after my client told him I was doing a great job.

I immediately called O.K. who quietly commented, “Jack, you hated that job. Getting fired was God doing for you what you couldn’t do for yourself.” I call these OKisms.

O.K. also suggested I find a power greater than myself. A Higher Power. O.K. never knew it, but I made him my Higher Power.

O.K. died a few years ago. But he’s with me every day because I remember at least one of many OKisms which I’ll share with you.

Blessings,

Jack