Struggles

Talking to a friend of mine the other day it comforted me to find out that I’m not the only one dissatisfied with myself and my own Christianity. Struggling with issues of what is right and what it truly means to be a follower of Christ is a lonely state of mind sometimes.

Mainly I’m struggling with why I can talk & read all I want about serving others, changing the Church, practicing the Christian Disciplines such as prayer, fasting, solitude, service, simplicity… but I don’t do a damn thing about it.

Anniversary

There’s still a mystery – God is so completely loving and all-powerful… yet sometimes it seems He’s asleep at the wheel. On the eve of 9/11 I believe God is all-powerful. In my head I believe that He can do anything – but in my heart. . . Well, that’s a different story.

I don’t understand.

But I still trust.

“time is a gift poured out from the deepest hope: that we might choose to spend time, our lives, on the Giver” *Champion Birdwatchers io

Active Faith

Signs that your faith isn’t stagnant:

1. You walk through the Eastern Religions aisle of Barnes & Noble with your ‘I-made-my-own-religion’ sister and realize you have had some of the same objections to Christianity that she does – and for once listen to her.
2. The thought of reading the Bhagvat Gita doesn’t make you drive to the nearest Christian bookstore to get the book they have about it.
3. You handle doubt like you handled braces through high school. It’s a pain, it’s annoying, but you come out of the whole experience better than when you started.

I came out of reading Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies realizing that life as a Christian isn’t ever spiffed up with a suit & tie – and it was never meant to be. Jesus hung out with the dregs of society – the people who really needed the human contact. So what am I doing with the suits??

The birth of Wait… Come Back

Christening a new blog is a mixed-emotions kinda thing. On one hand I’m excited because I haven’t blogged since I decided to take Rocketdiary‘s blog out of service and turn it into my portfolio site (which may change in the future), but on the other hand I’m nervous. Nervous about turning it into another self-absorbed, insignificant thing that I come across every so often, and that I nearly created with Rocketdiary.

Wait..Come Back is going to be more focused – I think. I want my posts to be reflections on what I’m reading and my thoughts on faith, religion, spirituality, and maybe if I really can’t avoid it, my passion for web development…

Why the name? Well, my recent reading (Finding Faith by Brian McLaren) has made me realize that many Christians who are trying to “evangelize” end up driving people away rather than leading them in finding faith, and find themselves saying “Wait… Come Back!” At least, that’s a picture I got in my head not too long ago. Just a reminder – to myself, at least – that the goal of talking to people about faith is to show them you’re a safe, open person with whom to discuss matters of eternal worth. Or something like that.

I intend to publish at least once a week, and perhaps if the muse strikes me, more often than that.

Until next time – may you find your own faith…