I don't want to start
Any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God's
Got a sick sense of humor
And when I die
I expect to find Him laughing

Depeche Mode may be on to something there.

God is real. She exists, and while I might not call it a sick sense of humor, it is certainly odd, and absolutely ironic. It has taken me a great many years to get it through my thick skull, but God is out there. A reasonible question that you would be asking yourself is "how do I know?" Well, I can identify 2 prayers that she has answered for me.
In the summer of 1981, I was living in Escondido, CA and attending Orange Glenn Elementary School. We lived in an apartment complex across the drainage creek from a small church. The church was next door to my friend Albert's house. One Saturday my Mom and I were on our, very small, patio when a van from the church's youth group came through our neighborhood trolling for sinners to be saved. The youth minister came over and asked if I wanted to join their church and attend their summer program. Like most 12 year olds, I was going through a rebellious stage, and was looking for myself. Since my mother is a free spirit, I decided that it might be good to check this "church thing" out. My Mom gave me her blessing and encouraged me to go off and see if this was right for me. In retrospect, if this were to happen today, we would probably assume that the guy driving the van was a pedophile and would call the cops. Mom certainly wouldn't have put me in the van and told me to have a good time. It was a couple weeks into my new life filled with the Sunday adventure called church when there was some kind of bazaar going on. There were Pony rides, games, and a raffle to win tickets for 4 to Sea World. I decided to try out my new connection with the
"man" upstairs and I prayed. I told "him" that if he let me win those tickets, I would believe in "him" and continue down the road of the righteous. Well, I won. God called my bet. Apparently, I lied to God. I think that I went a couple more times and then got too bored and stopped attending. Hopefully I promised to be a good person, and not a church goer, and that my attempts at being the best person that I can is payment for those tickets.
My second experience was in 1994, in Flagstaff, AZ. I was living in sin with a woman with whom I planned to marry. I was in California for spring break from University. I wasn't entirely happy with the state of my relationship with with woman, but I thought that she was my future. While in California, I wished/prayed that she would fall in love with Geoff. I meant my friend Geoff who I had known for years. When I got home, I was greeted with the information that we were no more, and that she had been fucking this guy Jeff from her work. I guess I needed to be a little more specific. Nothing like a nice "you get what you ask for" slap in the face, huh?
So, there you go, 2 prayers answered. I don't remember if I made any bargains with the second one, but I would think that the irony is payment enough.