The Impossible Mission of Faith

In September 2009, I published my first blog called "The Radical Christian." That first blog was motivated by an increasing conviction that God wants both more from us than most of us are willing to give and more for us than most of us can really comprehend. It was based on a conviction that the life God really wants us to lead means a constant struggle to keep Him at the center of our lives through relentless prayer, through an insatiable hunger for His word, and through a continual desire to teach the gospel, disciple believers, and reach out to the poor and the hurting.

I just started a book called "Radical," which has the subtitle "Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream." I have not gotten too far into it yet, but it is pretty easy to see where this book is going. And the place its going is, well, uncomfortable.

The first part of the book gives specific examples of people in far off lands who literally risk their lives to both share and receive the good news of Jesus Christ. It talks about people whose "churches" meet in secret places -- people who will spend hours on end for weeks at a time learning as much as they can about the same Bible that too often collects dust on our night stands.

It also talks about another group of people -- a people who worship God in fancy buildings, with state of the art music and comfortable chairs. It describes people who have become adept at ignoring the parts the teachings of Jesus that interfere with their comfortable lives.

I have struggled with these issues for a long time, and I have to say that reading this book is not helping. But, I digress. I really didn't intend to write about me today.

What I really want to talk about is my daughter's school -- Grapevine Faith Christian School. I am sure that Faith looks at first glance like a lot of other Christian schools. The students wear uniforms and look like fairly typical kids. In fact, at first glance Faith probably looks a lot like many public schools. Faith has its share of successes, and its share of problems. It has students who are zealous about their relationship with God. It has students who are not. It has parents who are zealous about their relationship with God. It has parents who are not.

But Faith has taken on what seems to me an impossible mission -- which is to "develop and graduate authentic Christian leaders." Why do I say "impossible"? I just don't see many people who really have the time, desire and inclination to look hard at what it means to have an authentic relationship with Jesus, much less many people who strive to be authentic Christian leaders. How does the discipline of a life devoted to God compete with the quick fixes readily available in everyday life in America? How do you get high school students to get past the complexities of life as a teenager and to see the bigger picture? How do you challenge these young people to put things like proms, football games, cheer leading, grades, and college applications into perspective? For that matter, how do you get them away from video games, Facebook and texting long enough for God to capture their imagination?

What amazes me about the leadership and faculty at Faith is that they really think they can accomplish this seemingly impossible mission. They really think that they can take ordinary teenagers and turn them into leaders who understand that Jesus has called us to a radical faith. They think that they will graduate young men and women who will never settle for quaint Sunday services and ice cream socials, but instead will embrace an authentic relationship with Christ -- including the sacrifices that necessarily come with that relationship. Young people who will count the cost of following Jesus and who will forge ahead, undeterred, as leaders in the church of the future, in their communities, in government and in the business world.

As I mentioned before, Faith is far from a perfect place. It is, after all, full of people. But it also has a faculty and staff who are full of faith. And faith, as we know, can move mountains.

I am guessing that most Faith graduates don't seem all that different from graduates of countless other schools. But I am also guessing that, for most of them, sometime, somewhere and somehow the blood, sweat, tears and prayers of a dedicated group of Christians at a place called Faith will make an eternal difference in not just the lives of these students, but in the lives of the many people these future Christian leaders will touch. The mission may seem impossible, but maybe it just takes a radical faith.

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:20-21.

A Journey Through The Past

It is a little hard to describe the last couple of weeks. I have had some pretty high "highs" and some pretty low "lows."

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to meet up with an old friend from college named Tim Krumal. It was great to spend time with Tim and to get to know his family a little. I probably hadn't seen Tim in over twenty-five years.

Tim has a beautiful wife, Jana, and four really great kids. Tim's kids are quite a bit younger than ours, and I was definitely reminded of how fun it was when Pam and I had kids that age. (They are not so bad now either). It was great to see the wonderful things that God has done in Tim's life.

We did some reminiscing and had a few laughs. We talked about challenges we faced after college and I had a chance to tell Tim about my spiritual journey -- a journey in which Tim played an incredible role.

My family had gone to church until I was in about the sixth grade. By the time I met Tim it had been a long time since God had been a part of my life in any meaningful way. I had known two or three people in high school who I was aware were "serious Christians," but other than that, I had all but forgotten about God.

I had been around "Christians" all my life (over 80% of Americans would say they are Christians) -- but Tim was different. Tim had a level of seriousness about his faith that I had only seen from a distance. It was something I really had not experienced before -- and it was both odd and refreshing at the same time. For Tim talking about Jesus came as naturally as breathing did for me. He tried in subtle, and sometimes not so subtle ways, to lead me back to faith in Jesus.

Tim poured into my life during our season together. And, although I felt no closer to God when our season together ended, looking back now I know without any doubt that God placed Tim in my life for a reason. Tim was knowledgeable about the Bible and had his arguments for faith together and all that. But, more than anything Tim was an just a great example of someone who lived what he preached. Tim showed me what it looks like when someone is sincere about their faith -- when someone really puts God first in their life and really works hard to live a life worthy of His calling.

Tim is the Pastor of Family Ministries at Auburn Grace Church, which is near Sacramento California. Not surprisingly, he and Jana have a real passion for teaching spiritual leadership in the home, and it was evident that they practice what they preach. I love Tim and his family and thank God for the seeds that Tim planted in my life.

After seeing Tim and his family I drove through the town in California where I did most of my growing up. It was fun to drive through the old neighborhoods and by the houses where my friends once lived.
Then, last week I learned that one of those old friends, who I was particularly close to late in high school, had unexpectedly passed away. I had not kept in touch the way I wish I would have -- although we did speak on the phone a few months ago. I am thankful for that.
Memories of the time we spent together have been flooding through my mind. They were all good. Ridiculous times; lots of laughs.