When I Was With The Serpent-handlers In

I'm Still Agnostic. But In The Words Of Elton Richards, I'm Now A Reverant Agnostic. Which Isn't An Oxymoron, I Swear. I Now Believe That Whether Or Not There's A God, There Is Such A Thing As Sacredness. Life Is Sacred. The Sabbath Can Be A Sacred Day. Prayer Can Be A Sacred Ritual. There Is Something Transcendent, Beyond The Everyday. It's Possible That Humans Created This Sacredness Ourselves, But That Doesn't Take Away From Its Power Or Importance.

I Found There Were Things About Religion That I Really Loved; Things Like The Sense Of Gratefulness That It Brings.

There's A Lot Of Food Restriction In The Bible, But It Does Say You're Allowed To Eat Crickets, Grasshoppers, And Locusts. I Decided To Take Advantage Of That And Eat A Cricket. It Was Chocolate-covered, And I'm Not Sure That's The Way They Were Served In Moses' Time. But This Was A Rule That Seemed Crazy On The Outside, Then Actually Turned Out To Be Pragmatic And Compassionate.

I Always Thought The Name Of Utah’s Major Newspaper Was Some Sort Of Weird Misspelling Of The Word “desert.” But No, Deseret Is The “land Of The Honeybee,” According To The Book Of Mormon. I Guess I Should Have Figured They Would Have Caught A Typo In The Masthead After 154 Years.

I Was Very Good At Sitting. But I Just Read So Much Research About How Horrible Sitting Is For You. It's Like, It's Really Bad. It's Like Paula-deen-glazed-bacon-doughnut Bad. So I Now Move Around As Much As Possible.