Extreme Faith

"When you come to the edge of all the light you know

And are about the step into the darkness of the unknown

Faith is knowing one of two things will happen:

There will be something solid to stand on

Or you will be taught how to fly."  -- Richard Bach

Lately, I've been pondering the idea of blind, radical faith. I know I talk a lot about "faith" and throw that word around a lot but it's almost like I am learning to see it in a whole new way. A way that I have honestly never considered before. I am not a big fan of the words "radical" or "extreme" but this is kind of what I've been thinking -- extreme faith.

And while I would NEVER in a million years have the guts to do it, I think extreme sports are really cool.

And while I would NEVER in a million years have the patience to do it, I think extreme couponers are smarter than everyone else.

There's this guy in the bible who in my opinion was a little extreme. His name was Paul. Well, actually his name was Saul but then it became Paul and that is a different blog post entirely but anyway... this Paul guy was very passionate about following Jesus and helping others follow him too. He helped run all these churches in different places and offered advice, encouragement and prayers for all these people. The crazy thing is that he would do all of this from jail! And I'm not talking about the twin sized bed, cable TV, 3 meals a day jail that we know about today... I'm talking about being in chains, sleeping on the cold dirt, starving jail of back in the day. He would write letters and before signing his name at the bottom he'd say "remember my chains" and I'm sure that gave a whole lot of perspective to the people receiving them. Paul followed Jesus no matter what the cost.

There's this other guy in the bible who in my opinion was not extreme enough. I call him the "male version of April" because I can relate a lot to this guy. His name was Peter. He was one of the 12 disciples so  he had faith okay! One of my friends from my old church always said mean things about Peter like "oh he was such a punk" and I'd get all ghetto because I happen to relate to Peter and I won't be hearing that but again, different blog post entirely. Peter was emotional and I guess that's why I see a lot of myself in him. He pulled Jesus aside before he was about to be taken just to say "listen, you don't have to do this we can run away right now."  He loved Jesus, he was his friend and although he knew what had to be done, he just didn't want to see his friend killed. A soldier came to get Jesus and Peter was like "oh hell no" and he cut that dude's ear off with his sword. Peter had a lot of passion just like Paul did, but Peter had a hard time trusting.

So I guess what I'm saying here is ... I think I need to let go of my plans and trust God more. I think I need to get a little more extreme about having faith. Maybe Paul just had an extreme personality but maybe he had the right idea -- faith should have no limits! I have to remember that what I know is not the full picture but there is a God up there (and in my heart) who does know the full picture and he has a plan for my life. Just like Paul did, I can have security in that. Do you believe in God or do you believe God? "So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Galatians 3:6.

Monday is looking good so far! Have a great week everyone =)

XO,