Where Is God? Poem by Jim Yerman

He was brought up to believe in God
That God was in his church…all knowing and loving and fun!
Until he and his classmates were beaten in the name of God by the priests and all the nuns.

He was confused at what he was experiencing…He was no longer enamored or awed
In fact it was while the nuns were beating him that he lost his faith in God.

What happened to him when he was young came as a shock…a huge surprise.
so he began to look at the world with more discerning eyes.

He noticed so much suffering and tragedy.He noticed discrimination, hate and poverty
He noticed people senselessly hurting one another.He noticed wars and animosity.

And he thought to himself…what he was taught in his church was nothing but a fraud…
A world so full of malevolence is proof there is no God!

But at the same time he noticed compassion and tenderness, acceptance and charity.
People coming to the aid of one another. He noticed kindness and humanity.

And it made him reassess his belief.Perhaps his thinking had been flawed.
Perhaps his vision was too narrow when he was looking for his God.

And it was here he stopped his search for God.All those years he had misunderstood…
It wasn't God he should be looking for…so he started looking for good.

As he found good in many men and women…he began to see the light
He found good in gays and lesbians…in people black, red, yellow and white.

He found good did not need religion…it had no boundaries, no borders…no cares
And when he took the time to look…he found it everywhere.

Oh, he still noticed evil but the more he looked the more he learned
And the more good he discovered in the world…the more his faith and hope returned.

Hope that people will look inside themselves…find their goodness and be awed
and realize once they've found their goodness…they have discovered God.