In our search for truth for meaning, we run into happenings that can’t be explained away, and can’t be proved. It is in these moments that our faith is defined and can grow.
Recently there was an exhibit near my home that I went to see on the Shroud of Turin. I did not know much about it, but I was curious because I’m interested in Biblical archeology and medical science. Legend has it that the burial covering, or shroud, of Jesus was left in the tomb, laid out as it had covered the body, and was found that way by the women and apostles Peter and John. This account is verified in the words of the gospels, and there is a physical piece of material that has survived since antiquity.
The mystery is if it really is the burial cloth of Jesus. The truth is that he really died, came back to life and left evidence.
Many scientific tests have been performed on the shroud, but in all the years and technological advances in forensic science there is still no definitive proof for or against the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. The markings on the cloth align with the accounts of Jesus’s beatings, stabbing, and piercings, but the small snip of cloth that was dated my not be old enough, or maybe it was dated wrong because it survived a fire and there are carbon deposits that skewed the results.
A number of theories exist and have been tested, but therein lies the space for faith. We can see with our eyes, examine with our hearts, and know with our conscience the truth we seek.
We can see with our eyes, examine with our hearts, and know with our conscience the Truth we seek
I have attended worship and Sunday school my entire life. But one day, my freshman year of college, I was invited to a dorm room Bible Study in my new friends room. It was like nothing I had ever been to before. These young woman were studying the book of Ephesians word by word and verse by verse. In the first evening I think we only got through 2-3 verses. From that meeting on, I was on fire to learn more about what Paul had to say to the Ephesians and every other book in the collection of scriptures.
My eyes were opened to a whole new understanding of God’s word and by the end of the semester, my Bible was heavily marked with notes and highlights on any bare surface of the pages of Ephesians. But something else had taken place, I had been getting to know these wonderful girls more deeply and we had shared vulnerable stories about our fears, hopes, closely held beliefs, and ideas.
Not only were we obeying God by reading His word, we were obeying His command to fellowship and to act hospitably towards each other.
In that small quad in the basement level of the only all-girls dorm on campus, my faith grew from the size of a small closet with a shut door to an open wide field under the sun. Each new thing I learned that semester planted itself in me and was watered by the relationships that were built.
This past week I was the Bible teacher for my church’s VBS program. As I prepared the materials for the week, the booklet instructed me to get a gear bag ready with items that you would need to run a race.
The lessons were based on the passage of 2 Timothy 4:7-8 which says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” – 2 Timothy 4:7
In the bag I put a bottle of sunscreen, a stopwatch, a protein bar, a bottle of water, and a pair of sunglasses.
As I taught the children ages 5 to 5th grade, all week I talked about the things we can do to prepare to run a physical race and related them to how we are supposed to run our spiritual race.
I taught them that sunscreen is like prayer, when we put it on, it protects our skin and when we pray we have all of the power of God protecting us.
I showed them how to keep track of how fast they were running by keeping time with a stopwatch and then told them that when they learn their daily Bible verses and write them down in a journal they could keep track of how much they are learning about God. Every time they recited their verse to our pastor’s wife they were awarded a sucker and by Friday every single kid could tell me how many suckers they had earned over the course of the week.
On Wednesday we talked about eating right so that we can be healthy and stay in the race and I introduced them to the verse that says to eat the scroll in Ezekiel and explained what it meant to eat up God’s word by reading it to feed your heart. Some of the kids made a decision that day to follow Christ, to run their race for Him.
On Thursday we talked about how water keeps us clean from the inside out and how Jesus knew the sins of the woman at the well before she even told him. When she saw that instead of judging her, He loved her and offered her living water that would cleanse her from the inside out, she ran to tell everyone she knew about Him. Then I found out that the kids who had accepted Christ ran to tell our pastor their decision, 8 kids in all. Wow! We had 43 kids total everyday and 8 of them, 20% of them, made a decision to follow Christ.
Finally, on the last day we talked about worshiping in community. I showed them how when we put on sunglasses on a bright sunny day, it changes they way we see things, we get a clearer, sharper image. When we worship the One who loved us first, we get a new perspective, a clearer, sharper image of how to love other people.
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By Friday last week I was amazed!
I had prayed for a change of attitude and a soft heart in myself going into the week and I was blown away by the change I saw in the kids.
In the space of a week I saw and heard more things from them to grow my faith than I ever could have learned from reading those verses on my own.
I can’t explain what exactly it was that made an impact on the kids and I can’t prove that there was an immediate change in them, but I know, that I know, that I know, that God was at work and moving in the lives of those kids, that in all of their experiences through the week a connection was made, and they decided to act in faith and make a decision to grow their world with new, wider boundaries.
“But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.” – Deuteronomy 4:29
Our space is defined in the small, personal details of our life, the everyday moments, and the occasional invitations that when we open ourselves up to opportunities they create a bigger, broader space for faith in our lives.
Decide to act in faith and make a decision to grow