Opening Up to God In a best-selling book, Generation X guru Douglas Coupland tracks a young man through a troubled era. He’s remorseful over his mistakes. His marriage has stagnated. He’s ensnared in a meaningless job. Instead of deep friendships, he endures what he calls “halfway relationships.” He’s worried that he doesn’t feel life the way he used to. He peers into his future with uncertainty. The book’s title: Life after God. But after 358 pages of aimlessness and frustration, this was his conclusion: Now — here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart
that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in
a quiet room as you read these words. My secret is that I need
God — that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God
to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving;
to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to
help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love. Like Coupland’s character, maybe you have a secret, too. Perhaps your own circumstances are causing you to conclude that maybe — just maybe — you need God to breathe hope and life into your world. Or maybe you need him to knock the crust off a heart that’s corroded with self-interest and cynicism. Or maybe you need him because . . . well, to be honest, you’re not sure why. You just sense that there’s got to be more to your existence than a job, three meals a day, and the gnawing feeling that something’s missing. So you’ve been casually checking out Christianity. Nothing too serious yet. You’ve leafed through a book or two. Questions are swirling through your mind. You’d like to get at the truth, but you’re not sure how to — and you’re a little afraid of what you might find. Or possibly you already know a lot about the idea of God, but you’re realizing that you really don’t know him. You’ve wrestled with the concept of a deity yet never embraced Jesus himself. You went to church as a youngster and even went through religion classes, but they seemed to have numbed you toward God more than sensitized you toward him. If someone asked, you’d say that you were a religious person, although the truth is this: a heartfelt, life-changing, soul-satisfying faith has always eluded you. This prayer is for you. Seventeen words that can start a revolution. Pray them at your own risk: “God, open my eyes to who you really are, and then I’ll open my life to you.” | 
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