You Get What You Pay For

Listening to Eddie today at church I heard something I hadn't thought about before. He was challenging our idea of faith, and when we really have it. His sermon was from Matthew's account of Jesus calming the storm. He brought up the idea of when Jesus comes up and the guys are all freaking out, he calms the storm and then looks at his disciples and says, "Guys? What's the deal? Have you no faith?" (rough translation). Eddie asked us this question, "What does it take for you to have faith in Christ?" or something like that. Essentially, what has to happen for us to believe in Christ? Does he have to answer us everytime we call out in prayer? Does he have to heal every person we pray for, or show up at any moment he's called upon? What if he doesn't do what we ask him to do, does he deserve any less of our obedience?

The story of the calming of the storm is one where Jesus actually does a miracle, and yet seems to be rebuking the disciples for not having faith that he could, whether he did it or not. As if the only time they would agree to have faith in him was when they really didn't need it in the first place.

So it got me thinking, is this true for me? Am I waiting to really put my trust in Christ because he hasn't answered my "requests"? Is that really what I want my faith to be about? I can honestly say that I'd never thought of that, in that way before. I've never thought about how much I really do expect God to do what I want, and then when he doesn't "come through", I'm struggling with my faith. If I'm honest, that happens way more often than i'd care to admit. What's the point of having faith if you're never going to use it? I'll have to think some more about this one...thanks Eddie, my head hurts.

A new day has come

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face. It's hard to really believe what we were witness to last night, a truly historic thing, and watching the people in Grant Park, I couldn't help but smile and imagine what might be in the days, weeks, and months to come. I felt very proud to vote in this election, to be a part of helping our country move into a new day, with the first African American president, and to see that people from all races, economic backgrounds, etc had come together, united, because of a belief that working together we really can make a difference. I'm excited about the road ahead, looking forward to what's coming, trying to keep a realistic view of progress, but overall thankful for being alive at this time and in this place.