Religious Renaissance

I got up and exercised at 5:00 am knowing there would be no time for a walk or group run. Joel arrived at 7:00 in the morning. We didn't even sit sown for polite southern chit chat or offer him a beverage. Promptly, the three of us hurried to the car to begin our Religious Renaissance Day. Yes, it was Sunday, and we would enter a church and prayer space, but not as part of a community or for standard worship.

Our first stop came in Elberton, GA, the granite capital of the world. On a small portion of a hilltop farm (the highest point in the city) stand the Georgia Guide Stones (www.guidestones.org), a religious structure of sorts with 10 guidelines for all humanity.  If you can’t afford the two hours to drive out there, do click on the link above and read the 10 guidelines.

The next planned destination was the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers. However, along the way we passed the Farm where for 8 years an apparition of the Holy Mother Mary appeared on the 13th of each month. Of course, I pleaded and they conceded. We turned around and toured the campus. We stopped in the room of the apparitions, toured the Way of the Cross and a very interesting wooded path with busts and information about saints and other sightings of the Virgin Mary.

Finally, we arrived at the Monastery. It was as one would expect, beautiful and peaceful. We spent time in the church, walked some of the grounds, visited the new museum and spent a fair amount of time and a little money in the gift shop.

Along our drive through northeast Georgia we noticed a lot of places of worship. This Sunday morning many of them were well populated. It’s clear religion is alive and well in our part of the world.

Believe in something.

Tom