There’s something about the human voice. Especially when it is in song. And when we hear someone sing who has such a perfect voice, we marvel at that perfection. Perhaps we are even a little jealous. Why does that person have the gift of such a perfect voice when we can barely carry a tune?

What we may fail to realize is, we each have a heavenly gift, and, for each of us, our personal gift is unique.

If we should widen our perspective, we might realize the vast treasury of gifts, talents, or skills spread across the human race. We may marvel or envy that person with the angelic voice, or stand in awe of the performer or actor that entertains us. But we may be so blinded by the extreme of the gifts they possess, that we lose sight of the vast array of special gifts or talents that makes up the mix that fuels human existence.

When we consider the fundamental building blocks of human DNA that determines our physical makeup, we would be hard-pressed to identify the DNA mix that produces a specific skill or talent. Our faith/logic analysis then might suggest that such unique and subtle tweaks to a particular human being might have a more spiritual source.

While musical skills might be more obvious, in all probability, each of us may have a special skill. One person might have the ability to create a masterful oil painting, while another might have a particular grasp of mathematics. For every person who is a master carpenter, there may be another who has a passion for chemistry or astronomy.

Perhaps each of us is born with the seed of our special gift, and it is up to us to tend to that seed until it grows into a tree of our special fruit that we can share with the world. Perhaps too, it is in neglecting to cultivate that seed, that we struggle through life in frustration and discontent.

Just as we might question how a self-aware personality can emerge from the cluster of cells of the human embryo, we can equally question how a particular talent can arise from those same early cells.

The answer, of course, is that our talents, whatever they may be, are a gift from the Creator. Our task, in appreciation for those gifts, is to seek out those gifts within ourselves. Then we need to cultivate and hone them until we put them to the best use as our God intended.

Science is frequently seen as in conflict with faith. What’s missing from this equation is the fact that our science is the result of humanity’s trial and error efforts over centuries. Piece by piece, bit by bit, humanity unravels the secrets of our world and our existence.

Gradually, we have solved the mysteries of chemical reactions. We have learned the workings of the atom and the secrets of biology. We have learned about the motions of the planets and the stars. We have refined mathematics until it became a vital tool in many scientific efforts. We have harnessed the power of gravity and magnetism to serve our needs.

But we have yet to find the irrefutable evidence that God exists. Why?

Perhaps the answer lies in the tools we are using in our quest. As advanced as our science has become, it still relies on some basic tools.

While we have developed instruments that can expand our reach, we still rely on our senses and our ability to reason. We have developed microscopes and telescopes to expand our vision. We have created instruments to detect and convert frequencies of light and sound that lie outside our natural abilities. We peer into the farthest reaches of our universe by means of advanced mathematics.

But we are missing the answers to some of the most critical questions. We know how magnetic fields work, but we don’t really know why. The same can be said for the force of gravity which keeps our feet on the ground and holds our earth in orbit around our sun. We understand the force, but we cannot answer the question as to why that force exists. We understand how the balance between electrons and the protons and neutrons in an atom holds it together, but we don’t have an explanation as to why those forces exist.

In short, we know a great deal about how things work, but very little about why. Like the layers of an onion, every layer of knowledge that we uncover reveals another puzzle. Perhaps the answer is that solving such puzzles requires tools that we have yet to develop and may be incapable of developing.

It may be that this missing knowledge is, in itself, the answer we seek. Perhaps the why is simply the will of God, and we need to accept that in our earthly human existence, we are incapable of understanding.

And that is where faith comes in.

You may not remember, but there was probably a time when you were able to communicate with the spirit of those who have passed through death’s door. You don’t remember, because you were a child. You had not yet learned to doubt. You had not yet learned about fantasy. You had not yet learned science and logic. You were innocent, and you were open to experiences that adulthood denies.

When we begin the effort of finding a common ground between faith and logic, we need to acknowledge the multitude of tales of human encounters with occupants of the afterlife as evidence of existence after physical death. And chances are that you have had such an experience, even if you don’t remember it.

Children are commonly observed having conversations or playtime with invisible friends or companions. In their early stages of learning about the world, children are open to virtually any possibility. Perhaps you have been told by parents or family members about the times you engaged in such conduct. Perhaps you witnessed your own child interacting with invisible entities and passed it off as childhood imagination.

Perhaps you were wrong.

If we could shed our many year’s accumulation of doubts and logical foundations, would we find that we too are capable of seeing, hearing or sensing messages from beyond the grave?

Although most of us may have forgotten our childhood encounters, we may have had brief glimpses of that forgotten skill, even in adulthood. How many of us have had that brief, flickering sense that a lost loved one was present at a particular moment? How many of us have caught a brief vision of a loved one who passed, only to conclude that it was just an illusion? How many of us have been reunited in a dream?

Is it possible that the layers of doubt that we have accumulated over a lifetime are occasionally breached, if only for a moment, and even the most cynical of us has an experience we can’t explain? Would such an event help us embrace our faith by providing proof that we exist beyond physical death?

Perhaps, too, we are handicapped by religious leaders who would have us believe that embracing the idea of spiritual visitations is a betrayal of our faith. Maybe that judgment is wrong.

If nothing else, we must concede that what we don’t know, what we don’t understand, is our greatest handicap to a full acceptance of our faith. Perhaps allowing ourselves to revert back to that childhood innocent state is the key to real faith.

If we struggle to find a logical reason to embrace our faith, maybe a glimpse of the afterlife is a path we need to follow.

A recent video posting on YouTube related the story of a woman who believes she picked up an angel who was hitchhiking during a snowstorm. As her story ends, she reveals why she believed she was blessed to encounter an angel. She explained that when she let the person out of her car, the person seemed to disappear into the storm, and concerned that he might have fallen, she walked around to the passenger side, only to find no footprints or other disturbance in the snow.

Naturally, there is more to the story, but I’ll let you see for yourself.

Once you have watched the video, I invite you to scroll down and read the comments. Suddenly, the experience in the video seems to be more common than you might expect. If we consider that those commenting have nothing to gain from their comments, it adds credibility to their statements.

Our traditional image of an angel is a winged spiritual being,  wearing a pure white robe, and maybe carrying a harp. Yet, we would be hard-pressed to find such a description in the Bible. In the memories of many who have described encounters with angels, the angels are usually described as ordinary human forms, It is only in their actions that these angles reveal themselves. Moreover, they usually appear at a critical moment, then are never seen again. We might wonder if we would recognize a guardian angel if we met one.

So where does this fit in with our on-going challenge to apply logic to our questions on faith?

Like so many other aspects of our existence, we have to concede that, just because we haven’t personally experienced something, that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. In fact, if we were to be completely open-minded on the subject, we might realize that we may have in fact, had an experience with the spirit world, we may have had contact with angels, but we are not tuned in to that frequency. The din of our day-to-day lives is so overwhelming, that it reduces our ability to detect those subtle signals of the spirit realm.

If angels are God’s messengers, and if God has a plan, however humble, for our lives, perhaps we have been rescued from our own folly, multiple times. Perhaps God’s angels hover over us, directing our path to help us reach our goal in this life or to place us at the time and place to serve God’s purpose.

And maybe, just maybe, each of us has an opportunity to strap on those angel wings and serve God’s purpose by being at the right place and right time to be that angel for someone else.

All of us who struggle with our faith journey have one question in common. What, if anything, lies beyond death’s door? That question, and the answer, are the foundation of our need to embrace our faith.

Perhaps nothing in our existence has a greater impact on how we live our lives. We grow up gradually recognizing that none of us lives forever. We come to accept that reality, but we are faced with the challenge of imagining the possibility that we will just cease to exist. As a self-aware being, we find it difficult to conceive of that moment when our self-awareness turns off like a light switch. It is equally difficult to imagine that all our life experiences, all our memories, all our hopes and dreams are wiped out of existence.

Our faith is the only hope of our continuing existence.

We all know that, at some point, the body we inhabit will cease to function. Somehow, we instinctively know that our physical body is merely a vehicle to carry us through an earthly journey. It is that same instinct that drives us to seek the path that ensures our continuing existence, even if that existence is in another form or locale.

Our faith is both the path and the guidebook that will take us into that next realm.

But, it is the definitions of the existence beyond death’s door that has become the standard that dictates human behavior. When faced with the possibility of eternal suffering or eternal joy, we develop a set of behaviors that have served as the foundation of our laws and morals. The Ten Commandments, found in the Bible, are essentially the bedrock of all acceptable standards of human behavior.

But, in a world founded on logic, we must ask – “where is the proof of existence after death?”

At that point, we need to set aside our Bibles long enough to apply our logic to the question. And we find that the evidence is all around us if we focus and pay attention.

Yes, we are handicapped by the limits of our five senses, and that may be why we have difficulty imagining an existence beyond death. Perhaps we need to recognize and accept the hints that are provided to us.

Our human history is filled with tales of ghosts, spirits, visions, and premonitions. Advances in communication have allowed us to share the moment when someone passes through that door and returns, many with a profound message for the living. Most of these events are a peek thought the crack in the doorway before the door slams shut again. It seems that we are incapable of maintaining any continuing connection with the world beyond that door for any more than a brief glimpse.

But perhaps that is enough. Perhaps those hints of what is to come are all we need to merge our logic with the faith we need to complete our journey.