"F" is for Faith, and Friday

TGIF, That's Thank GOD it is Friday. He brought us through another week.

Faith is a difficult thing for me. It is hard to have faith sometimes with all that happens in our lives. Faith also means different things to different people. To me it means not having to worry. It’s letting things run their course and trusting that in the end they will work out for the better. It means that even thought I don’t see what’s ahead, I know in my heart that there is a plan and that I trust that there is a good plan for me.

You need to have a lot of faith when driving in the fog or rain. You need to trust that the person in front of you will have their lights on and keep moving so that you don’t run into them. That is hard to do sometimes and I struggle with it. That is why when I am driving in the rain or fog I am a nervous wreck. It doesn’t help that one or my aunts was killed in an accident in the pouring rain. I always think about that when I am driving in the rain. I guess this would be faith in other people and anyone that knows anything about South Carolina Drivers knows that is a risky thing to do.

A few years ago we took the boys to Wet and Wild in Orlando. I really love water parks and this was a big one. There was this huge water slide that started on the top of a tower and then went almost straight down before sending you horizontally to allow you to slow down. I watched several people go down it before getting up the nerve to climb the tower. There was a short line at the top and soon it was my turn to hit the slide. As I sat down on the slide and waited for the previous person to clear the landing area, I noticed that I couldn’t see the slide over the edge. All I could see was that I was up really high. I knew the slide still had to be there but something in my brain said “this is not a good thing”. To go down this slide I was going to have to push myself off a very high tower without being able to see where I was going and have faith that the slide was going to catch me and take me safely to the ground.

When the man said “go ahead whenever you are ready”, I closed my eyes briefly and gave a little push (ok I stopped long enough to say a quick prayer) but I did do it. I don’t mind saying, I will never do that again. Even though it was exciting, once was enough. I will stick to the “Lazy River” next time. For those that have never been that is a little stream that runs through the park and you sit on an inner tube and float down it. I guess I just don’t have faith in man’s ability to make something perfect that works every time. This is probably a good thing also.

I constantly work on my faith in God as well. I mean I believe in God, and always have but my faith has never been what I would consider a strong one. Each time life gives me one of those little kicks I wonder why and try to second guess everything. It is difficult when I am faced with a tough decision or an apparent setback because I want to “push” my way forward and not “allow” things to happen. I never know if what I am doing is the right thing or just what “I” want to do. I also rationalize that because I can’t move mountains that my faith just isn’t strong enough especially when all one needs is the faith of a mustard seed. So I will keep working on this one. Have faith in me.

By the way, I am still reading daily. And when someone says “ the world has gone straight to the toilet” I can say, no it has been that way for a very long time. I have discovered a lot that was apparently skipped over when I was a child at Bible study. I guess it was too adult for us.

Have a great day,
Greg