God on Mars

Just before I boarded my shuttle

a man approached me

and asked if I thought

god

—his god, I assume—

existed where my shuttle was destined to go.

Those were funny choices of words,

I thought.

Does god exist where I am destined to go?

That sounds like a man

trying to convince himself

what he has believed his entire life

couldn’t be different anywhere else.

I never really considered the question

before takeoff,

and I can’t say I’ve given it

much thought

since I’ve been up here,

at least not in the way he was hoping,

I don’t think.

Imagine that,

trying to convince someone so you can convince yourself.

Does god exist in the stars?

Does god exist on Mars?

Does god exist a million miles away from my conception of god?

Was asking me 

supposed to be some sort of 

gotcha

moment?

Was I supposed to reconsider the voyage

to what might be

some 

godless 

frontier?

The funniest part

is I spend more time thinking about that man

asking me about god

than I do thinking about god.