Faith in People

So, this is a very different kind of post for me. It's not a story at all, but something that I wanted to say, and rather than making a different blog just for this, I figured I may as well just use the existing one.

I have faith in Urban Meyer. I trust that the Buckeye's head coach will lead my alma mater's football team to another undefeated season. I don't have control over the outcome of next season, but I trust that he will do what he can to win games. I'm not an "orthodox" Buckeye: I don't subscribe to the idea that I should root for whoever is playing Michigan. I know some other Buckeye's think that's blasphemy, but honestly, it doesn't reflect well on you if your rival is a doormat. But what binds me to this buckeye nation is an interest in seeing the Bucks succeed, and a trust that Urban Meyer will try to make that happen.

In high school, I had faith in Mr. Spears. I trusted that if I needed to know how to find the volume of a solid of revolution to pass the AP Calculus exam, he would make sure I was ready for that. Going into my senior year, I didn't know which tools I would need to pass the test, and even if I had, I wouldn't have known how to use them. But Mr. Spears had already been my teacher for three other math classes, and I knew he would get me through AP Calc as well.

I have faith in my wife. I trust that if she tells me something (and I'm listening; I have trouble with that) then it's true. I know she's not perfect, but my relationship with her leads me to have faith in her. When I left for Honduras for two weeks (I'll have to post about that soon), I knew that she would be waiting eagerly for me to get back. There's any number of things I could say I knew she wouldn't do while I was away, but most of them would seem like an insult for even mentioning, because our relationship gives me such a strong reason to trust her.

I have faith in Jesus Christ. I trust that when He says He will never leave me or forsake me, He won't. I trust that even if it seems like He has, He's still present, working in ways I wasn't expecting; I trust Him because I talk to Him and He talks back. I know that there is plenty wrong with the world, but He said that God's kingdom is at hand, and He hasn't lied to me yet.

I trust that if I keep following Him, He'll slowly shape me into the person I want to be, the person I know I ought to be. I don't really know what the good life looks like, and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to get there. But He's led me through 22 years so far, and I've come a long way already, so I trust that He'll transform me into the man I was meant to be.

I also trust that He is ultimately the victor of this eon-long war between good and evil. I know there's not much I can do about the outcome of this war, but I trust that He will not rest until the last shred of evil and sorrow is gone from the world. And I don't adhere to every doctrine, but that's okay, because what ultimately matters is that I know and have faith in the person Jesus Christ.