What exactly is a faith journey?

For the last week or so, a reader by the name of Zora has been asking what I mean by "faith journey". Unfortunately, I don't think I've done a good job of answering her questions. I had hoped some others would join the confusion and clear up the mess I was making. Here's a link to the original discussion.

I've decided to answer her last set of questions here in a separate post.

1. What exactly is a faith journey? People who are more familiar with church and church terms would call this "being a Christian". Read the post I've linked to above for some of my particular nuances on the phrase, but here are the important details of what "being a Christian" means from a "faith journey" perspective. When we are born, we are automatically on a journey that takes us away from God. This is a result of original sin - the sin that Adam and Eve committed in the Garden of Eden. We will continue on this journey until we do some about it. We may do good things, be good people, etc. but the reality is that we are moving away from God. The Bible calls it "being dead in our trangsressions". At some point in our lives, we will hopefully realize we are going in the wrong direction and desire to move towards God. We have to acknowledge that the sin that was taking us in the wrong direction can only be counteracted by and removed by the death of Jesus on a cross. The church term for this is "repentance". At this point, our journeys change directions. We are now on a new path, heading towards God.
2. What do you do to stay on this faith journey? After we "repent" and begin our new journey, the Holy Spirit does a few important things. He cleans away the sins from our pasts that happened along the journey that was taking us away from God. He makes us new people who now live for him. There are things I do to help keep me on the journey and to strengthen my faith. They are things like Bible study, prayer, and being part of a community that shares my faith. That means being involved in a church on a macro level. It also means joining some smaller group within that church (like a Sunday School or a small group) on a micro level. The micro level enables you build relationships of mutual encouragement. There are many other spiritual disciplines that can and should be practiced to help us stay on the journey also. Here's a couple of good books on that matter: The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster and With Unveiled Faces by Keith Drury.
3. What do you have faith in? As noted above, it begins with a belief that the only way to have this faith journey is by having faith that the death Jesus died on a cross is the only way to get off a path towards death and onto a path towards life. I have faith that there is a God who relates to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I have faith that he really cares about all the little things in my life and provides for my every need - whether it be my material needs or my spiritual needs. I have faith that he will answer my prayers and it will be for my good, even if I don't like or understand it initially.
4. How does prayer help on your faith journey? Prayer is conversation with God. That means I talk AND I listen. If I listen, I will "hear" him speak and know what to do if I'm seeking guidance. But it's like learning to talk to anyone. You don't always understand everything they say in the beginning of the relationship. There are nonverbals, mannerisms, even dialectical issues you have to learn. If you really work on praying regularly and incorporate listening, you will learn to recognize his voice.
5. What types of things do you pray for? Everything! I pray for myself - that I will be a better father, husband, pastor, friend, and yes, even a better Christian. I pray for others in all the same ways. I pray for people to be healed. I pray for wisdom in important decisions. I pray for peace and comfort in times of difficulty. I pray that people who are not on a faith journey will begin one. Sometimes I just spend time praising and thanking God for who he is and what he has done. Other times I just sit and enjoy being in his presence. This is the mystical part that is perhaps the hardest to understand. Here's another book that can help in that area - Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. It is written by Madame Jeanne Guyon, who was a 17th century Christian mystic. (Christian being the operative term!)

I think this addresses all of Zora's questions and I'm sure will generate more. As always, I would love for some of you to join the discussion.

Have a great day!

Retreating

I've got a couple of thoughts I'd like to share this morning, but I'm refraining so I can get away ASAP. I'm going on a prayer retreat for a couple of days. It's my first chance to use my new backpack as I begin the process of becoming a real man. But the best part will be a couple of days with no distractions so I can just pray. I'll let you know all about when I return.

In the meantime, I encourage you again to take part in this discussion on one of my other posts.

C-ya

Join the conversation

Please join the conversation that's taking place right now on this earlier post Statistics, Schmatistics. Part of the point of this post was to do things in community, so I'm asking the community to help out.

Thanks!

The Life and Times of Agent #4

When life is not extremely busy, there are a couple of shows I like to watch that all involve FBI (or other glamorous government law enforcement types) agents. One of the things I've noticed is that the stars of the show don't need as much protection as the two-bit guy who is still trying to get a break into show biz and is playing the role of Agent #4. For example, whenever there is a raid on some abandoned warehouse where an atomic bomb is suspected to be armed and ready to go off, guarded by fifteen bad guys heavily armed with grenades and large-caliber automatic weapons, Agents #1 - 15 are all decked out in body armor, helmets, face shields, gloves, protective suits, etc. But, the main characters and stars of the show Ace Goodguy, Biff Hero, and Raquel the Ravishing rush in with only a bullet proof vest that says "FBI" on the back and a really cool looking pair of safety glasses that could easily pass for $500 Ray Bans. I guess their star status gives them protection the other agents don't need.

Our faith journeys will be filled with times where it feels like we have to storm a warehouse full of bad guys. Or, more accurately it will feel like a warehouse full of bad guys has stormed us. It helps to have some type of protection to protect against the assault.

You could apply this to your faith journey in two different ways. On the one hand, you could say that the longer you have been on a faith journey, the more able you are to handle the troubles that come along. That's true. You don't need as much armor. You've reached a certain star status. That's NOT true. I'd advise against it. It's a mistake everyone makes, probably many times, in their journeys. The less protection you have, the more likely you are to fall and get injured.

A more appropriate application would be to always dress like Agent #4. Put on the whole suit and every bit of protection. In the book of Ephesians, Paul called this the armor of God. Our attitude should be more like that of a football player. None of the great stars of the game say, "I've been playing long enough that I can wear less equipment since I am so good." To the contrary. Because they have become so good, they know they need MORE protection because the opposing players are going to be trying even harder to take them down. The enemy of your faith journey is going to be working even harder to take you down.

Just in case you need more evidence to convince you, think about all the faith journey "stars" that have fallen from grace. In every case, they didn't wear the whole suit. Now that you have your assignment, go out and do well Agent #4. Just a thought.

Lessons from Winston Churchill and Jimmy V

"Never, never, never give up" is a famous quote by Winston Churchill. "Don't give up. Don't ever give up" is also a famous quote by someone who is probably more well known in this part of the woods - Jim Valvano. This past weekend, the ghost of Jimmy V could be seen at the ACC Tournament as number 10 seed NC State played their way to the championship game against favorite to win University of North Carolina. They played a great first 17 minutes befoe falling apart. With around 11 minutes left to play, they were down by sixteen points.

I ALMOST turned off the game. Nobody really expected State to win. Everyone acknowledged they had played far beyond expectations. Honestly, their bench really was not deep enough to beat someone like Carolina. But, State had beaten this same team earlier in the season. With 9 minutes left to play, the lead was cut to single digits. By the 5 minute mark, it was a game. The Tarheels were clearly concerned they might not win. The Pack was clearly aware they just might. In the end, UNC was crowned tournament champs. They got to cut down the nets. But NC State came away as the winners to many because of the great effort.

"Never give up" is found throughout the Bible. We're told to never stop doing good. We are given assurance that our faith journeys are being continually refined by God. When trouble comes and tries to derail us, we are given encouragement that God will help us through. We are told of the good things that come when we never give up.

Faith journeys are all about never giving up. If we gave up, they would be "faith trips". If we look back on our faith journeys, we will discover times where we did things we never thought possible. There will be moments when we realized our responses even surpassed what others thought we were capable of. At times, we may feel like the 2007 Wolfpack. We don't necessarily win the championship, but we get a lot of credit for our effort. Our championship will come one day however, as long as we never give up.

Board Rooms and Basketball Courts

In my part of the world, basketball rules. In thirty minutes or less, I can travel to the campuses (campi?) of traditional basketball powerhouses UNC, Duke, and NC State. Yes, I know, NC State's powerhouse is more historical than contemporary, but as an alum, I have to have hope! The big news last night was the flagrant foul of Gerald Henderon of Duke that resulted in the bloody nose of Tyler Hansbrough of UNC with only 14 seconds left in the game. I watched the video several times. I really don't think he meant to do it. Henderson will not be able to play in Duke's next game, round 1 of the ACC tournament against NC State (go Pack!). Even if he didn't mean to do it, the referees ruled it was a violation of the flagrant foul rule.

As I turned off the sports news last night, I did one last channel surf before heading to bed. I got to watch Donald Trump fire a couple of folks in the board room of the show The Apprentice. I may have seen three of four episodes total in the six seasons it has been on. The board room is definitely the highlight. As I watched Trump wield his corporate power and mercilessly grill the losing team, I have to admit I was envious for that type of power. In the world of corporate America where the bottom line is the driving force behind decisions, there is no excuse for failure. At least not for Trump. As a guy, I would love to be able to wield that type of decision making power. At least I think I would.

As we go through life on our faith journeys, there are things we really don't mean to do. They are a result of bad habits we have formed over time. I remember having a conversation with someone after church one Sunday. We were still in the church and at times he would get excited. Once or twice he would have a slip of the tongue and say some things we usually avoid saying while in church. He was young in his faith journey and really didn't mean too. These words were part of the habits he had developed over time.

When we slip up, its very easy to become defeated. It is easy to believe that our faith journey has somehow become derailed permanently or that we need to go back to square one. We may believe that God borrows an idea from the Trump toolbox and says, "You're Fired."

Reality is probably closer to the Henderson/Hansbrough incident. He may not have meant to, but the penalty has to be paid. He can return and keep playing like he always did. So, stay in the game. Keep playing. Be glad life isn't like the board room. And Go Pack!