Let's see, my spiritual journey begins in a farm outside of a small town in Kansas. I grew up in the faith of my parents- Roman Catholic. All in all, it was a positive religious experience for me. This was the beginning of my spiritual journey- even if I did not really understand what spirituality meant until many years later....My parents were Roman Catholic with a capital R and a capital C. We went to Mass every Sunday. Many times Saturday night and Sunday morning. And maybe also Wednesday night mass during the week. All holy days were observed. During Easter Holy Week we went to church 5 of the seven days of the week.

What does it mean to "know" and "experience" God? This seemingly simple and fundamental question is at the core of my life-long spiritual quest. My convoluted and erratic faith journey can be boiled down into this very basic question. I've tried to answer it through immersing myself in scripture, testing the waters various faith traditions such as Buddhism, Islam, and even exploring some alternative, "new age" forms of spirituality. Throughout these spiritual travels, I've envisioned God to be nothing more than the essential nature of this world, the peace one discovers by complete submission to a set of practices or actions and by being fully present in the here and now.

In a technologically advanced, and ever advancing, world of checkbox descriptions on social networking sites, EVERYONE is labeled. Some of my familiar labels are female, teacher, bisexual, singer, dancer, baker, and passionate sushi eating latte sipping liberal. As much as I am able to squish myself into boxes of someone else's construction, there is one box that overtime has left me confused and uncomfortable: "Religion?" This simple question did not always leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Will all of the contradictions and uncertainties we have, all of the pains and frustrations that we endure, all of the mistakes and troubles we create, will we let those keep us silent?  When given the opportunity to share the love of Christ, will we avoid it because we think it will make other people uncomfortable?  Will our doubts hinder us from proclaiming this uncontrollable love that bubbles up in us with every step we take closer to Jesus?