STILL WALKING
I’m the oldest of nine children, born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. At age nineteen, I enlisted in the U.S. Army during the war in Vietnam and served a year in that ravaged land. Coming home, I went back to school, attending Michigan State University, one of the most beautiful college campuses in America. It was as if I had died and gone to heaven, with new friends and a world far removed from where I’d been. I studied psychology and English, but mostly I immersed myself in college life and tried to find my niche in the world.
My interest in the saints goes way back. My father and mother were devout Catholics, and they raised us in the faith. As a child, one of my favorite books was The Catholic Book of Saints. During my mid-twenties, I began to expand my spiritual horizons. I was introduced to the concept of reincarnation, which to me explained a lot that the mainstream Christian belief that you only live once could not explain. I also came to believe that we truly are sons and daughters of God, and as such we are divine spiritual beings as well as human beings.
This was a profound remembering for me. I use the word 'remembering' because somewhere within me I had always known it. It also was a sobering realization, because it meant I needed to pick myself up from where I'd fallen and get back on the spiritual path. For I’d lost my way, and was shocked to realize how far I’d wandered from the virtues I'd been raised upon. I got scared, scared for my soul. So, with no little uncertainty, I set out on the long walk home. I’m walking still. Write to me at patrickrogers@ymail.com. I’d love to hear from you!
“In God we trust.”
— Quote Source