If you are a writer, whether it be a newspaper column like this, a commentary, a short story, or even a thesis or a position paper for school, getting started is often the most challenging part of the project. In a world that is moving so fast, there are many topics that merit addressing, situations that deserve an opinion and advice that should be added to the thinking process of issues. Myself, I have found that writing down ideas and thoughts when they come to mind, is my best practice for retaining future columns. Writing can be a chore or an opportunity to develop your thoughts or even an opportunity to record for history your personal beliefs and positions. I’ve discovered that the practice of writing things is also a reminder to myself, of what I should be doing, when writers block seems to be my stumbling block. In 1979 when I began writing my first published newspaper column, I wrote about fire science, fire prevention and an array of fire education topics. 1979 was the year I became involved in the Bell County Volunteer Fire Department as a Volunteer Firefighter. With the founding of the Department, it was believed there was a need to have something written and published that would tell keep folks up-to-date and informed. That need remains true even today. This column “Until then”, continues to represent the same philosophical approach to information, only the subject has changed. For many years now, I have written from my position as a Christian, I’ve shared from the experiences of my daily walk, weekly with you the reader. On the 16th day of this month of June, back in 1974, I became a follower of Jesus Christ and became a baptized believer. Much of my writings reflect the failures of my life, since I was raised out of the waters of baptism. Even with my short comings as a disciple of Jesus, I’m more excited today and I have more hope and faith than at any previous time as a believer. Because I have committed sins of omission and even commission, that is not planned failures in following Jesus’ lead and planned event where I was willfully disobedient to His direction and purpose, I’ve learned His plan is best for me and I’ve learned His grace and mercy really works. In preparing to write this column, I was attempting to figure out what to write about, when writers block was occurring. It is because of my written personal reflections in my journal that this column was born. I wrote about being at a stand still and thinking about folks I know that had lost their way in life. Finding oneself at a stand sill can occurs when we have set a time table for God to act or respond to our request. I’ll jokingly write, that I’m confident no one reading has ever been in that spot before except me. It is easy to place conditions on our faith with respect to God’s answers, we seek to discover. Yet to be reminded, that His timing is perfect can be challenging, when waiting, It is easy to suggest God act immediately, especially knowing with Him, nothing is impossible. With that truth, why would He wait? If you’ve ever thought such, you are not alone. It has been a long standing position of many Christians to think, God always needs to respond immediately. Experience has been a big teacher in my life. In hindsight, I’m so thankful He did’t practice my will. After all, I’ve prayed the Lord’s Prayer hundreds of times, seemingly to only quickly say, “Thy Will be done”, but not meaning His timing, but rather mine. Woe to me! I have found writing to be a great tool in my walk of faith. It has kept me grounded by reminding me of what I have said, I believe. When you are at a stand still, it is really the perfect opportunity to use the pause to confirm ones faith. It is the perfect opportunity to go back to the foundation, or the basic principles of what makes faith in Him, faith at all, Until then

Stepping into faith and trust

We’ve all had someone say to us, “Hey, just just trust me”. “What I am telling you is true”. Another often spoken statement is “You can bank on that”. While I appreciate individual statements, taking an individuals word as if they are bank solid is a whole different situation. When it comes to banking, you don’t question want they say, why?, because you know that it is in the fine print. The problem is that we failed to read the document or understand the terms before we signed our name on the dotted line. That type of realization always put you in a low sinking spot. Trusting people, institutions or organizations can create a lot of doubt. This happens because we have all been let down. We’ve all wanted to count on what someone says and we’ve failed to make allowances in the event, that isn’t possible or it doesn’t happen. As a Christian I believe in God. I believe that God sent His son Jesus, to die on a cross, in what we often describe as, in my place. Jesus died so anyone and everyone could have forgiveness of their sins. In this belief system that I have, I believe that God works out everything in my life too. This includes every problem I’ve created, every situation I jumped into and every experience I have had, good and bad. After all, not all of life is bad. Not every situation we face is horrible. However, bad things happen to all of us. There is an often used phrase that says bad things happen to good people too, but I personal never use that phrase. The reason is that categorizing people in such a way builds two camps of people. Good people and bad people. I struggle with that because we are all created in God’s image. Our actions can be bad. Our decisions can be bad. Our choices and options can be bad, but there is a Holy Spirit, created and sent by God for each of us as a resource, guide and confidant. Myself, when I find my life in a mess, it is because I have failed to trust the gift that God has given me. Trust is an issue that many folks struggle with. Trust can be complicated by our experiences. Trust can be challenging to give to others. But trust and faith are owned by God. God created the world, He put the stars in place. God asks us to trust Him, in all things. I have a journal I write all the time. Growing up I wrote about people and experiences, places, things I was reading and learning. Today, I write about those same things, but as my faith in God has developed, I write a lot about my faith today, then I did back then. Last year in my journal I wrote on day 291 of my life, “Faith is a trust that changes everything”. Today I am reflecting on the difference that faith has made again. For me, faith has changed everything. I have discovered some much about God’s plans for me. I don’t know them all and I’ve messed up His perfect plan many times. I’m not proud of all my choices, but faith has changed that, because I trust my faith. When I have had no answers, it has been faith and trust that kept me going. When I have wanted to give up, faith and trust gave me new energy to press on. Not sure where you are on your journey of life at this very moment, but I want to encourage you to trust in faith. Not just faith that someone says trust me on this, but reach out and embrace faith for solutions and answers, between you and God. Now I believe that others play an important role in our faith and trust in God. We can learn from others, we can hear their stories and be motivated to faith and trust in God. This time is right for you to take a step of faith. Don’t trust me, but trust God. He will not let you down. Until then

What about joy?

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, that the greatest gifts in Christianity are Faith, Hope and Love. Love is declared the Champion of this powerhouse union of three. Love is the overwhelming trait and because of this truth, faith and hope reign as companions of love. Scripture has much to say about faith. In Matthew 17:20-21 it reads, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing is impossible for God”. If faith moves mountains, that is a rather big punch, congratulations are in order for the power of faith indeed. Hope has a powerful swing in scripture too. I don’t know the record for the longest home-run in baseball history, but I do know that hope is an out of the park experience. Clearly hope is a bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, two outs, and a 3/2 count situation with the score tied. The Bible declares that hope is that which pushes us, lifts us backup, stabilizes us on our feet, helps us to regain our confidence and so much more. Isaiah 40:31 reads, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”. It is clear to see the reason why we need hope in our lives and why we need to share hope with others. Love is an action word, or at least in my well-house of thinking. Love is something that we see, not something that we say. The problem with the word love today, is that many use the word without the slightest understanding of where love came from nor how it behaves. Love came down at Christmas, the child born was named Jesus. Love is a free unattached action given solely to the benefit of another person. The problem again with many of us, we attach love to the condition you do what I say and what I want you to do. Please note that this is not the requirement of God when He sent His son Jesus to die in our place. His gift of forgiveness is totally free, that’s love in action. In this column of faith, hope and love, there is one thing that is not mentioned in this powerhouse perfection of three. Nehemiah, the Old Testament Prophet, addresses a by-product of living a life of faith, hope and love. Nehemiah however, lived in a time when things were not so well. Matters of faith had gone haywire in Jerusalem, there were no city walls, the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed, the Jewish people were living oppressed lives, hope had been crushed by a burdened of debt and love had lost its luster because of a lack of practice. The by-product of faith, hope and love is joy. Nehemiah wrote “The joy of the Lord is my strength”. Today the world is in a desperate need to see joy demonstrated as the by-product of our faith, The world desperately needs to hear words of hope, but if they see our joy, because of our hope, that can be a witness. Hate, disdain, unforgiving attitudes, are the practice of the day, this is nothing new, but today, the world needs to see the action of love. Do you have one of these, two of these or all three of these? Faith, Hope and Love? If you only have one, then add the other two by all means. Do this, so you too can have joy! If you need help in getting to joy as the by-product of faith, hope and love, I am here to help. Until then