Faith part 2

So I talked about faith, but didn't give you personal examples of my journey to faith, losing faith, and my path back to my faith with a deeper understanding and appreciation for having faith in my life. Now, I know wonderful men and women of all faiths. They are respectful of others and their beliefs. I don't tell them that they are wrong or that the path I am taking is the only path that people should take in their lives. The reason is my understanding of religion and what I believe God is telling us. First off, that faith is important, because it teaches us that we don't own anything, that all we can hope to do is manage the things in our lives. Whether you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or Wiccan, you realize that you own nothing and that you turn over the falseness of ownership.

So as I look back over my life so far here is what I see from my life. First off, as kids we have faith and its easy to have faith. Just like we eat less as kids, it takes less for us to fill our faith cup. So the beauty of the world, the sounds of nature, and the simple joys in life so us that God is present in our lives, and we believe with all our hearts. As we get older, it takes more to fill the cup and we are tempted more often to fill our faith cup with other seemingly fulfilling feelings. Lust, anger, pride, greed, and apathy can quickly replace the space that should be filled by faith. I personally have fallen into this trap. I always believed in God, but stopped giving God my time and effort because I thought I knew better. I figured God loved me no matter what, and he does, but I disrespected him by not putting my faith in God. I quit trying to fill my cup. I reached my lowest faith point after my grandfather and father died a month apart. I just quit caring. God, however, has a plan, and only he knows how it will unfold.

So, in order to restore my faith, and fix my path, he sent my wife, Brandi, into my life. That was the first step to the road to recovery. After Brandi, he sent me our oldest son. Andrew. He was a huge step towards straightening out my life and rebuilding my faith.

Now, I was married with our oldest and God sent me to Arkansas to really begin to heal If you are ever in Arkansas. and in Siloam Springs, stop by Eastgate Church of Christ. They are wonderful people and were there for my family and I when we needed them during a difficult time in our lives.

Now, this might sound strange, but the next step in healing for me, came in the form of a tornado. Now, these are dangerous storms, but it was because of it, I witnessed some of the most amazing acts of kindness in my life. My family, and my friends are family, showed up and helped my mom salvage what we could and move it out of her house. That was my home, and our center of our universe for almost my whole life. And it was go e. I was learning on that day that my family was the center of my universe and God has blesses me with the most amazing family in the world. God was showing me that faith pays off. The latest blessing God has allowed my family to enjoy is our new church, Woodcrest in Columbia. It is not your average church so you should check it out. Go to www.woodcrest.com or www.woodcrestworldwide.com.

So I keep my faith, and thank God everyday for the blessings he has allowed me to manage and do my best to turn his blessings into more, to show him I will use everything God blesses me with and return more to God when I'm called home.