Faith…Lost and Found

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In the Faith Wears Combat Boots? posts, I tackled the topic of faith: defining it, describing it as having feet, as wearing boots, as being able to work for us and through us, as an outward sign of our belief. But what happens when we feel we have lost our faith? What are we to do then? Can faith be lost and found again?

FAITH by DEFINITION:  1) confidence or trust in a person or thing; 2)  belief that is not based on proof; 3) a belief in anything: God, a religious system, a code of ethics, etc.

Faith and belief are bound together tightly when we say that we have faith in someone or something. The basis of our faith is a deep-seated knowing, a confidence we possess in our hearts and minds which may allude understanding or logical reason. When our faith is put to the test, we rarely welcome that opportunity with open arms. And yet, in order for us to truly KNOW that our FAITH is REAL and VITAL, it is sometimes necessary that we LOSE our FAITH, if only for a while. This loss can seem to us as a death; to lose faith is to feel as one who has been betrayed; or as one who is suddenly orphaned from everything and everyone which gave us sense and reason, trust and security. But maybe we haven’t really lost our faith, perhaps we have simply misplaced it…like our keys…or like the widow’s coin.

Luke 15:8-9 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses
one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every
nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can
be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me!
I found my lost coin!’
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language)

Maybe our loss of faith is necessary to birth a more perfect understanding of faith into our hearts and minds. If our deeply held convictions fail to support us when we need them most, maybe we need to dig around the recesses of our inmost soul to determine what exactly we were believing in the first place.

“If your faith is never tried then your faith can never be trusted!”
        M.L. Sanchez

To lose faith, may indeed be a gift if the loss causes us to clean the cobwebs out from our initial belief. If the loss moves us to do the work of discovery, of asking ourselves again what we truly believed and had confidence in, then we should not fear the temporary displacement, but rather welcome the occasion for introspection. We should not fear losing the specter of faith which masquerades as authentic ~ a phantom belief must be allowed to blow away when the winds of adversity challenge it. An authentic faith is like the widow’s coin, it can be found when diligently searched for.

Luke 11:10 Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches
will find, and for the person who knocks, the door will be opened.
(from GOD’S WORD Copyright © 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations
Bible Society.)

 

Faith Wears Combat Boots?…continued

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If faith were for sale, how much would we be willing to spend for an ounce of faith? Would an ounce of faith be enough to carry us through one dark night of the soul? Would a gallon of faith be enough to carry us safely through that illness that threatens my life or the life of a loved one. Can I stockpile or horde enough faith to stay the storms and stresses of this life which afflict and assail from every vector? Usually, when people talk about having faith, they imply a positive attachment to it. Faith is generally thought to be something of value in one’s life. Faith is not usually associated in negative terms. Remember the definitions of faith: 1) confidence or trust in a person or thing; 2) belief that is not based on proof; 3) a belief in anything: God, a religious system, a code of ethics, etc. This is why we look to our ‘faith’ to carry us, to work for us, when the storms of life test and try us. If faith is to be of an any assistance to us, then it must be sturdy enough to maintain itself when it is assaulted and scrutinized. So when faced with uncertainty, why do we question the quality of our faith? Why do we assume that our faith is weak or that we have lost faith in the face of severe challenge. Either our faith works for us or it doesn’t. We can’t purchase or acquire ‘more faith’ when we feel our reserves are running low. Perhaps we should consider the possibility that our faith is weak because it is untested. Consider this, if an athlete doesn’t show up for his race, he will never know if his weeks and months of training were enough to get him across the finish line. Doesn’t a strong faith require similar training? If our faith is short-winded and flimsy, then the likely source of its impotence is lack of conditioning. A faith that wears combat boots is a faith that has been strengthened by quality exercise and discipline. I like to think of faith as a life force ~ it has breath, it has power to sustain. But faith, like breath and life, cannot be hoarded and stored in a warehouse like some commodity. If we want a faith that supports, protects and comforts us in the midst of life’s challenges, then we must realize that our faith is made strong and reliable only when it gets to work in Boot Camp.

Faith Wears Combat Boots?

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What is faith? Dictionary.com defines faith as 1)confidence or trust in a person or thing; 2)belief that is not based on proof; 3)a belief in anything: God, a religious system, a code of ethics, etc. So faith does not require scientific proof to make it true for a believer; either one has faith or belief or confidence or trust or not.

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. Thomas Aquinas

How do I get faith? In order to exist or be real for us, faith requires something from us; it is not something that happens to us in passivity; faith does not descend upon us like an ethereal mist; Faith requires action and input from our conscious mind and heart to believe that something is true. We get faith and we empower faith by our continued belief. Faith is very personal; it is a knowing belief which we, the believer, hold and possess as our own. For most of us, we must have some initial life circumstance or experience to help us decide whether or not something is worth believing or trusting. Instincts alone do not help us have faith; we are not born with a slab of faith, but we are born with the capacity to test, choose and adopt beliefs which seem right and trustworthy to us. So to get faith, we practice believing. But wait, PRACTICE implies work! And this is where the combat boots come into focus. If we want evidence that a belief or faith is REAL, then we would expect our faith to work its way out of us…a REAL FAITH has LEGS and FEET and ARMS and SHOULDERS. It must be put to work to be of any real value to us and others.

A body that doesn’t breathe is dead. In the same way faith that does nothing is dead. James 2:26 (from GOD’S WORD Copyright 1995)

 

Run Training…Strides

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It’s time to mix things up a bit in your running workouts as you near the end of your 500 mile base training. In a previous post, I discussed the value of tempo training for runners of every fitness level. In today’s post, I would like to introduce you to another tool for your running toolbox: strides. By definition, strides are short bursts of swift running usually held for 60 to 100 meters. Strides are valuable for runners who want to improve or promote better running form while also engaging fast twitch muscle fibers. Also known as pick-ups, strides can be interspersed into any of your conversational pace training runs. Perform 3-5 strides after your initial warm-up; divide your each stride into thirds (first 10-20 meters at conversational pace; increase speed and intensity over the next 20-60 meters; slowly decelerate to conversational pace for the last 10-20 meters). If you are not sure what 100 meters looks or feels like, go to the nearest running track a jog the straight sections. These sections are roughly 100 meters long. So one stride (divided into three parts) would last as long as that straight section of track (give or take several meters). Once you have a feeling for how long 100 meters is, you can add strides to your next easy run. Practice these once or twice a week and you will surely build your strength, stamina and speed! Want to read more about strides? Go to this article from Runner’s World.

Faith Wears Combat Boots?

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What is faith? How do I get faith? Wouldn’t it be nice if I could go down to the corner convenience store and purchase a quart jar of faith when my pantry reserves are running low? But wait, if faith were for sale, how much would I be willing to spend for an ounce of faith? Would an ounce of faith be enough to carry me through one dark night of the soul? Would a gallon of faith be enough to carry me safely through that illness that threatens my life or the life of a loved one? Can I stockpile or horde enough faith to stay the storms and stresses of this life which afflict and assail from every vector? Where does faith come from? Where does it take up its abode? Where does it go when I lose it? How does faith grow and can it be cultivated? Can I live a happy life without faith? Is faith real or is it simply a fairytale story we tell to assuage the fears of children and old people? In the days to come I would like to explore these questions and will share my musings regarding ‘faith’ via my blog posts. I hope you’ll join the conversation…