The Bridge of Faith

      It has been far to long in between posts, but here is the next one.  I have had this idea for a while, and have told many people about it.  It is based on the bridge we have formed across life.  Have you ever seen a bridge like this:

     After a lot of thought and processing I have come to believe that we are on a bridge of similar construction in our walk with Christ.  The center rope you walk on is faith.  This is the pinnacle of what Christ called us to. Faith that Jesus was the son of God, that he came and died for our sins, and that he was raised to life is what it is all about.  I did a search to find that faith is mentioned around 458 times in the bible.  It is crammed full of stories related to faith in God.  The ultimate element being that God is who he says he is, and will do all he says he will do.  The faith is what we walk on.  It is what supports our weight, and gives us a place for our feet.  The greater the faith, the thicker the rope.  The best part about this bridge we create with is that once we have faith, we are harnessed into the line.  We cannot fall off, and no matter how much the rope shakes, we can be sure that we will not fall to our death.  The only problem is that walking on a tight rope is very difficult, and therefore two more ropes make it better.


     The extra two ropes are derived from reading the bible and prayer I believe.  I think that if we walk onto faith, we are steadied by the bible, and by prayer.   It is when these 3 are twined together that the bridge gains stability, and the crosser is steadied no matter how much the bridge is rocking.  I think often we just try to have faith, and we are dismayed when it feels like we are crossing a tight rope.  Even then we try to just get away with only prayer, and not the entire set of ropes.

     Crossing the bridge is where things become interesting.  I have been one of these bridges, and no matter how safe they are, they still feel very unsafe.  They shake and bounce.  They require you to focus, and point yourself at the other side.  It is easy to look down, and become paralyzed with fear.  These things all equate to life.  Life is not easy, and it bounces all around.  It scares us to the core, and only faith in the rope (Christ) allows us to cross.  I have heard that community should be one of the ropes instead, but community in this example is the ability to look around at other bridges just like the one you are on.  It allows you to encourage those that are further behind you in their crossing, and also an example of people that are already further in their crossing.  After some thought my idea for sharing the gospel is catching the people that are not connected through faith, and sharing our faith so that they can be clipped in as well.  The key is that all crossings have heaven on the other side, and we are all crossing the pit of death and darkness.  I do not have much scripture to post for this one, because most of it is feeling.  Feel free to post scriptures which you think apply, and continue to encourage others crossing their bridges!
 

Intro to a Passionate pursuit

I have had a weird desire to write about some of the things I have learned over the last 6 months. I think I have learned and taken to heart more about God in the last 6 months then possibly the 24 years prior to that moment. I would say that God used the circumstances of a break-up to push spark a spiritual revolution, and I am truly thankful that my God will attempt to reach me with whatever means necessary. This is the first part of passionate pursuit. GOD PASSIONATELY PURSES US! I wish to explain ways that God does this, and why God does this. It isn't always the way we think it should be, and we like to complain about circumstances or say that God does not love us because he let crap happen. God lets stuff happen so that all we can do is rely on him, which brings me to part 2. WE MUST PASSIONATELY PURSUE GOD. I feel that way to many people do not completely understand these topics, but I know it is the best way. "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." 2 Timothy 4:7-8. I want to get the end of my life and be able to say this. I don't want it to be I fought the fight better then him, I tried to finish the race, and kept the faith better then him. Quoting Yoda, "Do or do not, there is no try." I think so many Christians feel that trying to purse God is enough, and you probably know if you are not trying as hard as you can. I knew that I wasn't, but I needed a swift kick in the butt to start. So I will talk about some of the books I have read, and things I have figured out over the last 6 months in hopes that this could be the spark for a passionate pursuit that someone needs. I'll be honest and say that this stuff more aptly applies to men, and women may not understand all of it, because more often then not women have no clue or have no desire to know what a guy truly struggles with. God made men to see beauty, and women to want to be beautiful. In the context of marriage, and a God view this works wonderfully, but Satan transposes this for guys to seek more, and women to never feel beautiful, which works counter to God's design and Satan's goal. I think this is enough of an intro, but I hope to be back with more of the journey!