The Adventures in Life Build Faith

 I have started the first day of school with my room not completely set up because we had one too many faculty meetings instead of taking the time to set-up our rooms. I’ve started on the first day of school with no textbooks, before online, because the shipment got stalled. This year, we started the first day of online school with a broken platform. The students didn’t enter my classroom until an hour after class started.

 

My day started with a student informing me that he couldn’t see the classroom online. I didn’t want to tell him to let me make my coffee first. Text messages, emails, and phone calls came at me like a storm. In the meantime, I got an email out that the system didn’t work. My administration and other teachers became overwhelmed, and I’m over here thanking the Lord I got my coffee.

 

Life doesn’t always go as planned. When it falls apart, how you react reveals your faith and character. Do you blame other people? Do you get so mad at God that you refuse to believe in him? Do you find a way to move forward even though you have a detour? Maybe, just maybe, God wants to build your faith and give you a life not go as you plan but as He planned.

 

In youth ministry, I discovered at a conference that when we go to places and get lost, explain to the students that we’re just taking an adventure because life is an adventure. Let’s just say I took many adventures. I had to rethink and find my way to the destination through another route. Of course, we did not have GPS, and this generation doesn’t know how to take an adventure.

 

Maybe because when I grew up, life took a drastic turn, and I learned from my mom that you pick yourself up and move forward that I begin to think of alternate routes when life doesn’t go as planned. At the age of nine, my parents divorced. We moved from a three story house in Michigan to a three bedroom trailer in Daytona Beach, Florida. (That third bedroom, mine, was more like a walk-in closet.) I went with the flow because my mom did.

 

In Michigan, I would have been part of a popular group. In Florida, I became the quiet one that most people didn’t notice. I found a few friends at school, but my closest friends came from the church. I had to learn new things and become independent as my mom went to work. I began to see life as an adventure. I found fun in challenging myself to try new things to do and places to go. I may not have been popular, but I had something better, faith.

 

When life goes as planned, we claim that we have great faith. We go to church, read our Bible, pray, encourage others and tell everyone that Jesus has our back. The moment one little thing goes awry, some of us struggle. It’s in those times that our faith gets tested. Our response to the messy parts of life reveals our true faith.

 

So many people believe that they have failed because their lives did not go as planned, or as some young people will claim how others said it would go. No one can predict the future. People can help you plan, but if those plans get thwarted, you must find a way to redirect. That’s when the adventure starts.

 

You can follow the path that you thought would lead you to a happy and comfortable life and still not receive it. Life cannot be happy and comfortable all the time. In fact, Jesus claimed that we would have trouble, and we can turn to him for His comfort. Jesus said, “In this world you will have troubles. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33; NIV) Jesus didn’t say He would take the troubles away. He said he has overcome the world.

 

When people see the word, “overcome,” they think it means that the problem will end, but it means prevailing or having mastery over a challenge. The challenge does not end or change. You change how you will handle it.

 

Take the time to plan. Pray over your plans, and then, take the time to pray that God will guide you when life goes awry. Strengthen your faith in times of trouble instead of running or blaming others. In those detours, pray, read your Bible, and go to church and fellowship with other Christians. Take the narrow road that many don’t travel because on that road they will have troubles, but they know that Jesus has overcome those troubles on the road, and He walks alongside them on that road. Join the road with Jesus.

 

 

You're Not a Christian If...

 If you scroll through social media or listen to the news, you will discover people who say that if you align your life with their values and political side, then you have a righteous life. They make the claim that only people who think and believe like them have a relationship with Jesus. We must follow Jesus and not people.

For centuries, people have used guilt-shaming as a manipulative device to get people to believe or do what they want. In my younger years, I allowed people to guilt-shame me. With maturity of age and growth in my faith in Christ, I refuse to give into it. I know the tricks because I’ve done them.

Some of the guilt-shaming phrases begin with the following: “If you’re really a Christian you would…” “How can you be a Christian and do…” “Here’s a verse that says you can’t do this…” You know what all these phrases have in common? Jesus never used them. Jesus said, “Follow me.” “Have faith.” “Repent and believe.” “Go and make disciples of all nations.” See, those words require action from each of us.

When I reflect on my life politically and spiritually, I can see similarities. I changed because I worked with people. I changed because when I did something to make a difference, policies got in the way, and the people I served lost and became oppressed both in the church and in the community that I served. My views changed because I remembered the most important thing. People, including politicians, cannot save you. Jesus saves.

Jesus sacrificed his life for our sins. We don’t do anything to be saved. We accept Jesus and his grace. We don’t have to believe, think, or vote a particular way for the salvation of Jesus. Once I remembered that in my earlier years, I lived my life with the purpose to serve Jesus in everything I do, especially with my career.  

Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1; NIV) Jesus does not need us to go around and point out the flaws and sins of others like the Pharisees did. He needs us to look in the mirror and repent of our own sins. If everyone did one thing to improve their life every single day, then no one would have the time to agonize over the actions or beliefs of others.

When we focus on what we can do, we get so busy that we don’t have time to fret over what others do. I tried fixing everything with my voice in education. It didn’t work. When I got into the trenches, I saw the root of the issues, and now, I am finding ways to defeat the root issue. God put me in places that I could see the root cause of the issue. I had to see God’s hand in all of it.

We can guilt-shame others, berate others, and disassociate with others who do not agree with us, or we can go and make a difference in the life of someone else and bring them into the presence of Jesus. You get to choose. Jesus saves with His grace through your faith. Jesus does not guilt-shame because he forgives. We all get to choose to follow Jesus or not. No one decides our Christianity for us.