I know this is a sore subject with some of you, but I have to relate the part God is playing in my preparations -- it is just too fantastic to keep to myself. In August 1998, I new nothing about this y2k thing. One day, I decided to turn on the television to a Christian television program I used to watch daily, but had not done so for almost 15 years. There was an interview with Paloma O'Reilly discussing the urgency of preparing for the year 2000. I was immediately convinced of this problem and went to the site of the Cassandra Project for more information. Because my daughter was going to the hospital for two spine surgeries shortly after I saw Paloma, I was distracted with my daughter's operation and recovery. In December on a Saturday afternoon, the thought came to turn on a Christian radio program that also was once a favorite of mine, but just had been forgotten over the years. On that day, there was a guest host and you know what was being discussed. Well, that got me back on the Internet and I have not stopped researching and preparing since then. One of the suggestions I'd seen was to contact the LDS Church because their canneries were open to the public. (This was in early January) When I called the one in my city they informed me they were now only allowing members of the church to come, but if I knew a Mormon I would be welcome to come with them. Unfortunately, I did not. In the course of my research, I discovered a grain dealer I was impressed with. I called several days ago to place an order and when I told him where I lived, he said he had the name of a woman in my city and I should contact her to keep the shipping cost down. I got in touch with her yesterday and we talked about many things related to our preparations. Near the end of the conversation, after I had earlier related my experience about the cannery, she said," You might not believe this, but I hold one of the keys to the cannery and you could come with me." Tonight I am meeting her there. As Franz Werfel said, "For those who believe, no explanation is necessary, for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible." Please don't get upset when someone wants to bring God into the picture. For many of us, this is a much needed consolation in very stressful times. There are many of us who also believe He has the power to change this situation if He decides to. If you believe, please keep praying. God bless us all. Mary

-- Mary (SWEEP6@prodigy.net), February 17, 1999

Answers

I'm not a practicing Christian, although I was raised Catholic. Still, it is sad that in the US, people who believe there is something more to life/existance than being a biological machine are ridiculed. I see many simularities between state-sponsored secularism and religions.

I don't want to be preached to, but personally, I found your low-key comments refreshing.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@anonymous.com), February 17, 1999.

Mary, I don't think it is that we don't want to bring God into it so much as the fact that some are inclined to go into long exhortations about the end of the world, tribulations,we're getting what we deserve, etc.,etc.,etc.

Anonymous,--You may not be a practicing Catholic but it sounds like a practicing Christian, you are!

-- Sue (deco100@aol.com), February 17, 1999.

Excellent post, Mary, thanks for sharing your experiences. It's indeed all in His hands.

-- Why2K? (who@knows.com), February 17, 1999.

I am not against anyone practicing a religion of their choice, I just don't want people shoving it down my throat. I hate the Bible quotes, the bickering and fighting, prophetic jargon, and posters who think they are holier than thou. It turns me off and makes me shy away from you even when you do have something intelligent to say. Your credibility is no longer credible.

-- hateit (hateit@hateit.com), February 17, 1999.

Mary, thanks for sharing.

In metaphysics we refer to your experiences as "synchronicities" ... Divinely inspired of course.

There are no accidents.

Love living life that way ... it's pure fun, totally unexpected and makes me eternally grateful, daily. When you step into the flow of synchronicities, your life works.

People just have different names to refer to the same thing. A rose by any other name ...

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), February 17, 1999.

I echo what the others have said. I don't mind at all reading good personal experiences like this, in low-key fashion, whether it's religious or zen or whatever. It's the bible thumping, self-righteous "outside my religion there is no salvation" type postings I can't stand.

I'm happy for you Mary. Good luck with your preparations :-)

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), February 17, 1999.

Mary -

In case you missed some of the other threads on this, there's a "Y2K for Christians" forum which uses the same "Greenspun bulletin board" system as this one. It's at Pastor Chris' Y2K forum . Drop in sometime.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), February 17, 1999.

Mary--

Well said. Thanks. :>)

"A man finds joy in giving an apt reply-- and how good is a timely word!" Proverbs 15:23

-- Scarlett (ohara@tara.net), February 17, 1999.

Mary,

May GODS Will be done in your life as Gods Will is done in my own. The rewards are awsome!!

Mike

-- flierdude (mkessler0101@sprynet.com), February 17, 1999.

Hey hateit,

You wrote: "...turns me off and makes me shy away from you even when you do have something intelligent to say. Your credibility is no longer credible."

Funny, but when I read the posts of atheists and humanists, which are often liberally sprinkled with references to the dogma of their religious beliefs, e.g., evolution, survival of the fittest, and other concepts that are anethema to me, it doesn't cause me to ignore their comments. I just accept that they are operating with a belief system that differs from mine, and glean what I can from their thoughts. Rejecting someone's comments out-of-hand simply because they include digressions regarding deeply-held beliefs is no reason to pass them up - you'll learn a lot more with an inclusive, rather than exclusive, point of view.

-- Why2K? (who@knows.com), February 17, 1999.

Mmmmm?? I have a friend, a very kind, Christian, (I'm not, although I believe in a higher power) and she is one of the few people I can discuss prep with who doesn't think I'm a disaster junkie. Anyway, she never preaches, quotes Bible verses, witnesses to me, nor any of that holier-than-thou stuff that lots of Christians do. But when I asked her how her prep was coming along she said, "Awful. It takes more time than I have to spare. It is one of the only things my husband and I argue about. I've had one shipment lost by UPS and another lost somewhere in snailmail land. Anyway she named quite a few other things that had happened, and then said, "I think God is trying to tell me something. Perhaps he thinks we should be helping others more instead of worrying so much about ourselve."

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), February 18, 1999.

Hateit, I understand how you feel. I truly respect all religious beliefs, and religious people. I'm particulary fond of the Native American religious concept, of honoring the earth and its bounty. They don't seem to be so "self" oriented. But some of the people, who have treated me the worst in my life, have been Christians; others like my friend, that I mentioned in the above post, have treated me fine. I'm always amazed at Christians, who bash those of us, who simply don't want to hear it, and it happens all the time. I don't want to hear about guns and sports either, so I don't go to those forums, nor religion forums. But religion, sooner or later is on every forum. You just have to skip over it.

There are lots of things I don't care to hear about, like a co-worker that daily described her, irregular body functions to me in great detail. Finally I told her I didn't want to hear it and she very kindly said OK, just as I said OK when she said she was tired of listening to my cute, cat stories.

But when she kept talking religion, about the beast, the anit-Christ, Jesus as my savior, and on, and on and on. I told her I didn't care to hear it and she had a wild, very hateful, un-Christian like fit. They feel they are being persecuted. But actually it is they, who have persecuted the rest of us for centuries, for not believing as they do.

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), February 18, 1999.