I grew up very involved in my Christian faith and wanted to be a pastor "in-the-world," so I became a manager. My plan was to show people what it was like to be Christian by involving the people who "do the work" in making management decisions. Our group also refused to take things too seriously and had a lot of fun. Whatever job we were given to do, we did sooner and better than anyone expected--and with more laughter.

There were other managers who had a lot of power and kept it by ganging up on anyone they didn't like. Once my group started being successful, they ganged up on us and destroyed our group. The fun was gone and I decided I needed to change careers.

It was like going on a quest because there were so many obstacles in the way. But then my husband met someone who taught him how to pray with faith and the obstacles melted away.

We spent four years at seminary, I was ordained a pastor, and I wrote fantasy novels because I needed a way to explore a new way of thinking about the world.

That was making a long story short! Whew!

I had been a pastor for almost two years when I sensed God telling me something. I had to sit in prayer for four hours before I understood what God was saying: "I am preparing a place for you at the Catholic church." Now, why would he do that? The Catholics don't let women be priests, so my education wouldn't be any use!

A few months later I became disabled and couldn't be a pastor anymore. I needed a new place to worship and, in all obedience, went to the Catholic church! It's not a place I would have chosen for myself, but once I got there, I was home.

In his book, Acts of Faith, Eboo Patel tells about visiting the Dalai Lama. Eboo's parents were Muslims who immigrated to the U.S. from India, but Eboo (and his friend Kevin) were exploring Buddhism and taking lessons in Buddhist meditation from a Christian monk, who sent them to meet the Dalai Lama. Eboo listened to Kevin describe how Buddhist meditation was leading him to explore his Jewish roots. In fact, when the Dalia Lama asked, Kevin said (for the first time) that he was a Jew.

Eboo writes, "Then he turned to me. I started getting a little nervous... The Dalai Lama was about to ask me about my religion... I was a total failure at Buddhist meditation."

Zen Buddhist meditation focuses on emptying the mind, but Eboo found that he spent all his time "shoving thoughts out" and "being mad at myself for being a bad Buddhist."

As he continued to wait for the Dalai Lama to turn his attention to him, Eboo considered the fact that he had recently been allowing one of those thoughts into his mind and "had allowed it to linger long enough to get a sense of what it was. I could not have been more shocked at the discovery: "Ya Ali, Ya Muhammed"--the prayer that my mother had taught me when I was a child."

Eboo had not said that prayer for many years, but "here it was floating in my head, still woven into my being. I decided to let it stay."

After listening to the Dalai Lama and Kevin talk about Buddhist meditation and Judaism, it occurred to Eboo that maybe he had been inadvertently practicing a Muslim form of prayer which focuses the mind on a particular Muslim prayer word or phrase. "Perhaps Buddhist meditation had brought the Muslim spirituality from deep within me to the surface. Perhaps this was God's gentle way of telling me something."

The Dalai Lama turned to Eboo, not to ask a question, but to make a statement: "You are a Muslim," he said.

"Yes," Eboo answered.

The Dalai Lama giggled. "Islam is a very good religion."

Eboo and Kevin told the Dalai Lama about their interest in starting a youth interfaith movement.

"This is very important," the Dalai Lama said. Then he made several points about the interfaith movement that Eboo and Kevin later called the Interfaith Youth Core:
1. it is important for religions to dialogue
2. it is most important for religions to come together to serve others.
3. Finding common values between different religions is important.
4. As you study other religions, it is important to study your own religion and believe more in your own.