Lemoore, California. The 559, the 93245, the small rural town located in the central region of the San Joaquin Valley. A place that will melt flip flops to the ground in the summer, yet it will have people gathering around a fire in the winter with their hands wrapped tightly around a steaming cup of cocoa. Not much goes on in this town and it is not quite what someone would call a vacation destination, but there is indeed something special about this town. This special characteristic is the way religion connects and creates a family out of the majority of people who live in this town. The Roman Catholic faith is a large part of people’s lives here in the valley, including my own. My parents, being strong in their faith, had me baptized into
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I had so many questions and ideas that conflicted or challenged the beliefs of my faith. As a young teenager there was no way I was going to go talk to someone about it. What? And have them think I am going to become an atheist and go to hell, no way! Yes, I was the teenager too prideful to go and ask a more knowledgeable human being for help. Although, disregarding that mistake, time continued to pass and I often pondered upon my questions. Some were very common, such as “if God is all powerful then why does he not end poverty, or crime, or natural disasters?” Along with the question of “how come God cannot answer my prayers right away or ever?” These questions kept my mind busy, but there was one thought that played throughout my brain like a scratched record constantly on replay and that was “why does God allow terrible actions to fall upon people who do not deserve it?” It is a question that has passed through the thoughts of many people on this planet and it had me truly perplexed. Why would he allow actions of murder, rape, and theft to even be a human capability but as I would soon learn, the answer had been around me all my life. It was in an item that holds the answers to many challenges in our life. The one and only Holy
I had so many questions and ideas that conflicted or challenged the beliefs of my faith. As a young teenager there was no way I was going to go talk to someone about it. What? And have them think I am going to become an atheist and go to hell, no way! Yes, I was the teenager too prideful to go and ask a more knowledgeable human being for help. Although, disregarding that mistake, time continued to pass and I often pondered upon my questions. Some were very common, such as “if God is all powerful then why does he not end poverty, or crime, or natural disasters?” Along with the question of “how come God cannot answer my prayers right away or ever?” These questions kept my mind busy, but there was one thought that played throughout my brain like a scratched record constantly on replay and that was “why does God allow terrible actions to fall upon people who do not deserve it?” It is a question that has passed through the thoughts of many people on this planet and it had me truly perplexed. Why would he allow actions of murder, rape, and theft to even be a human capability but as I would soon learn, the answer had been around me all my life. It was in an item that holds the answers to many challenges in our life. The one and only Holy