Lent is a time to follow the highway to Zion

I became aware of my trust in God when I was 13, during an overnight with the daughter of our church’s minister. We weren’t in the same school, but that year her dad taught our confirmation class and we became friends.

We had turned the lights out—her mother had asked us to—but, as usual, we continued talking. Eventually, the conversation took a turn when one of us asked, “What if God didn’t exist?”

My memory is that two things happened pretty swiftly on top of each other. I remember feeling terribly afraid. In the darkness, I became aware of a profound silence, rich and full. I have never doubted for a moment since then that God simply is. God is as close as the silence that surrounds us and holds up all our busy noise.