The Leap of Faith

We have officially entered the teen years. I remember listening to a series that James Dobson did called "Bringing Up Boys". He said something to the affect that the teenage years were like sending your kids into a tunnel, you just hope that you send them in there straight, because there are very few adjustments that you can make once they are in there.

I find that to be very true. See, I don't remember Chris asking me if he could jump off of the cliff, I just remember being in the boat and helplessly watching as he hurled himself off. I guess I better get used to it.

In church Sunday we were talking about faith, what is faith? Is faith in God different from belief in God? I think so....to me, belief in God is a purely mental excercise, something like "OK, there is a God". Faith in God is a life changing experience. In my current way of thinking, faith is taking a risk, hurling yourself off of the cliff (as it were) because God promises that he'll take care of you.

The story that I most think about relating to Faith is when Jesus walked on the water to the disciples and Peter went out to meet him (Matt 14:22-33). We really don't know what the other disciples were thinking. Did they still think it was a ghost? did they believe it was Jesus? I don't know. Peter, however, showed faith. One of the very interesting things about this passage is Peter says "Lord, if it is you....". Does that mean he really wasn't sure? If it were me, I'm going to be real sure its Jesus out there before I get out of the boat.

Peter walks on the water for a short time but begins to sink. He calls out to Jesus who reaches down and lifts him out of the water. Jesus then says "You of little faith". Was Jesus scolding him at this point? I grew up with thinking that Jesus was unhappy with Peter. If Peter messed up, What about the others?

Several years ago, I watched a reenactment of this scene in a film. At the point when Jesus was saying "You of little faith" he was hugging Peter and laughing. It really made me realize that I would love to have seen Jesus intereact with people, his mannerisms, his body language. Body language can say so much more than the words. Seeing that movie changed my whole perspective on what Jesus was saying. I think his point was "See what you can do with just a little bit of faith? Increase it and you will move mountains."

So, here we go hurling ourselves into the teen years. I just hope that I got them in there straight...