Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where my writing begins for the week with a piece of gratitude to express, which for today is for a new show on CBS named “God Friended Me”.
Airing on Sunday nights at 8pm, the show revolves around a proclaimed atheist named Miles Finer (Brandon Michael Hall) who suddenly receives a friend request on Facebook from someone named “God”. After repeatedly declining the friend request, Miles eventually accepts it, only to immediately receive a friend suggestion from “God”. After initially shrugging it off, a person abruptly bumps into him on the street, at which point Miles quickly realizes it’s the very same individual from the friend suggestion. He then witnesses the guy get dumped by his girlfriend in the middle of the road, which prompts him to follow the guy from a safe distance when he descends into the nearby subway. But, when he sees the guy is about to jump in front of an incoming train, Miles runs into grab him, narrowly pulling him back just in time, and saves his life. Is it just a coincidence? Is someone trying to convince him that God is real? Or is this really God working through Miles? As the show continues to unfold, it’s these very answers that Miles aims to get.
Why I’m grateful for a show like this, is quite simple really. My own faith has been dwindling as of late. I have questioned the very spiritual beliefs I grew up with and sometimes feel as if I’m on the fence of agnosticism and atheism versus a person who truly lives by faith and has an absolute belief in God. All of that of course is related to the long duration of pain and suffering I’ve been going through for years now, where joy has been hard to experience and despair has been more of my constant companion. Thus, watching a show that uplifts my spirit and helps me to have a little more faith and belief in God is extremely important to me right now. Add in the fact that there are too many television series right now that continue to glorify the madness going on in the real world with guns and violence and terrible acts of anger and revenge, I find that a show like “God Friended Me” is a much-welcomed relief.
Sadly, many shows like this have come and gone and never lasted for very long like “Joan of Arcadia”, “Wonderfalls”, “Eli Stone”, and most recently “Kevin Probably Saves the World”. Each were shows that I couldn’t wait to watch the next episode and many-a-times I found myself crying, praying, and talking to God during it. Frankly, in my opinion, we all need more uplifting shows like them and like “God Friended Me” these days. People are losing hope left and right and turning to the world for answers, which is only leading to greater darkness, pain, and suffering in the long run. Agnosticism and atheism is on the rise and I find myself fighting the urge to give up on God every, single, day as of late. Living with high levels of pain sucks, and if something as simple as a television show about a guy finding faith in God again can change my own stance, that’s absolutely something to be grateful for.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
