Forged By Faith

Psalm 35:20 NIV dams the disquiet Because there comes hopefully a day inside of our every life in which we look up with our own eyes and determine that our lives are not going to be lived locked in step with those who will continue to insist that we join always the consist of what is a culture given unto the cancer that is caring as to what others want us to do, to say, to be, to become. No, there has to come a time in which we take control of our lives back from those to whom we’d sheepishly given it, playing ever since the victim of what is the venom that rules this world in vengeance. We should want more than this, and yet to find more than this we need then to allow only less of it. And that is everything that this world insists upon us. Every headline that the media asks us to become angry about. Every post that some stranger shares seeking to ruffle feathers and start comment section arguments. Every new technological advancement that we hopefully know deep down that we don’t rea...

Hebrews 12:7 NIV What is endurance? Is it some measure of physical capacity that’s determined by such things as a pace in a race? Is it the ability to withstand that which seems intent upon seeing if we can? Is it the ability to stand in the face of that which is adamant that we can’t? Is it the asking of someone to accept something seemingly unacceptable? Is it the accepting of something that we’d rather not admit we’re somewhat appreciative of having to hold? Is it the ability to hold our breath or ensure our strength doesn’t run out until the time’s run out in whatever competition we’ve entered or been entered in? Is it as simple as a person competing only against themselves and our self’s tendency toward seeking always for such things as the ease of personal safety and the simplicity of ongoing comfort? Is it the knowing that comfort can only take us as far as we’re willing to allow our weakness to define us, a junction created thanks to our willingness to always let it decide for ...

2 Corinthians 4:8 NIV It doesn’t matter At some point along this ride through what is this life and whatever else it may become there simply comes a point in which you stop keeping points. You stop keeping score. You quit worrying about the weather, the war, the worry about whether or not the fighting or fun will ever come and which of them might beat the other to you. Maybe that’s just because it starts to seem as if most things here are just there to beat you, to confuse you, to lose you inside what is this maze that is this mind that has mankind by the throat. A mindset sat upon still trying to gloat as if to gain or successfully avoid pain was ever to prove worth anything. An idea we’ve all believed before, but a belief itself that becomes so frivolous and foolhardy that we eventually find ourselves having to make a choice between continuing to believe for such trivial things as time and comfort or if we’re rather to shift our hopes to perhaps even the both running out so that we c...

1 Peter 1:6 NIV In all this As in everything. The waiting, the worry, the wanting to go home once we realize this ain’t it. The promises, the punishments, the precariousness of their being always mixed inside what is so often a life that is quite hard and impressively heavy. The hope and the hardship which allows it to shine only brighter as we stumble ever closer. The joy of knowing where we’re going and learning as we go that it’s not what we go through that matters or makes the difference but that it’s rather the anticipation of the destination that’ll define all we go through as meaningless once we get there. Yes, what matters in this story of God’s surpassing glory is just that: His glory surpasses both all understanding, yes, even ours, but that most often as it even surpasses this passage aimed right through the heart of the rest of the worst that this wicked world both has to offer and insists we see. But please don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t make it easy. Worth it? Yes. Easy? ...

Hebrews 12:3 NIV Like it or not, endurance of opposition is a requirement in our faith. This fact is shown in both the life of Christ and the clear warnings of what’s still to come. But still, our innate desire to remain comfortable and avoid hardship has earned us an unwillingness to embrace the fires sent to help refine us, strengthen us, embolden us into the resolute faithful we’re called to be. Sadly, growing weary and losing heart has basically become humanity's standard operating procedure. That is clearly evidenced in our ongoing enthrallment with complaining, whining, feeling sorry for ourselves, remaining filled with fear and refusing to hold the line to which we've been called. But what makes it all rather silly is that we are the ones who chose this path. We are the ones who asked for this life. We are the ones who answered that call and agreed in our hearts to toe that line. So why is it that we who call ourselves Christians get so angry or run and hide or seek some...