The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-11-05

Yes, my boy, there is God. You cannot
see or hear Him, but will tell you how you
can feel Him.
Did you ever lie, or cheat, or steal, or treat
a smaller boy cruelty, or be a coward when
you should have been brave? If SO, you have
felt hurt inside your mind, a miserable
feeling in your heart, as if you were sick at
your stomach, or as if you had struck your
finger with a hammer. 1t is God that SO
makes you hurt.
Have YOU ever wanted to do something
mean, or nasty, and resisted the desire, put
lit away from you, and acted honestly and fair;
and have you not noticed then good feeling,
a sense of inner pride and satisfaction and
manhood? 1t is God that gives you this good
feeling when you play the man.
Have you ever looked up at the sky at
night and remembering what you have been
told about the vast distances of the stars, and
that they are worlds like ours moving through
space as fast as cannon-balls, have you never
had feeling of wonder, of how great and
majestic the universe is, and you but tiny
mite in it all? That feeling of wonder and
awe comes from God. A very wise man,
Carlyle, said that worship is wonder; so that
when you see anything that makes you Won
der because of its greatness or beauty or
mystery, you are really worshipping God,
whether the object be the ocean, the noun
tain or a good man or woman. .
1t is not the police that protect our lives,
my boy. Only a few Wicked men come into
conflict with the policemen. But there Is
something that holds every man back from
cruelty and uncleanness, that stays the
murderer's arm and causes many a woman to
drown herself rather than be vile That
something is God. He watches over us all
and neither slumbers nor sleeps.
None of us understand why He allows SO
many people to do wrong, but we 'feei tnat
there is something in every human breast that
makes wrongdoing bring misery every time.
The most important thing for you to be-
Iieye about God is that He is not your enemy,
and He is not watching you like detective to
nunish Won. but that He is your friend, that
He is loving and serving you every minute OF
listen 20 your heart beating, as you lie
awake in bed. All night while you are I'M
conscious something is making your heart
beat thus and your lungs breathe and at
tending to all the functions of your body. That
is God. Nobody has ever yet found better
name.
| It is God who rolls the stars in the heavens.
who lifts the sun up in the morning, and
guides the moon at night; who causes the
wheat and corn, the trees and flowers to grow;
who brings the birds back from the south in
the spring who makes the little lambs frolic
| and the kittens play; VINO makes children
happy and the grown people kind and
patient. -
Wherever yoh find LIFE and GOODNESS
and GREATNESS you may know God is
there.
So, my boy, whether your folks are Hebrew,
or Christian, Buddhist or Mohometan, even
if they are nothing at ALL" you may rest
assured that they will not object to. your be-
lieving what 1 have here told you; and you
may be sure also that to believe in God and to
try to feel and follow Him will do more than
anything else in the world to make you an
honest, happy and brave man, to make those
who love you glad because of you, and to
make all the world respect and trust y0us