He doesn't understand. I was like him: a 40-year career atheist, and all was well--- until my spouse of 30 years walked out on me. All those decades of togetherness and supposed love were...nothing. All the moral aboveness-of-it-all, like a house of cards. Sometimes it takes a hard collision with reality for the pride to be shattered and the ears to become unstopped. There is no way atheism can restore 30 years of lost life.

Or, try unpreparedly finding yourself on a gurney, alone, abandoned for minutes on end, staring at the ceiling, wondering if you had just experienced a heart attack.

My father, who had gone through World War II, had a pithy saying: "There are no atheists in foxholes."

As for me, I don't worry so much about how God talks to me. There are many ways: the beauty of a sunset, the appeal of my cats for food, the smile of my wife, the events of the day, the fact that I awaken at all. I am more concerned about how I talk to God, and that I not fail to do it, whether in words, thoughts, or actions. We need Him more than He needs us...but it is more important for us to talk to Him, for although He knows our heart, talking to Him is how we discover what is in our heart. It took me years to understand that.