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Just Plane Faith

Blog / Produced by The High Calling
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I despise flying. Sorry for the strong word, but it's true. From the moment I step on a plane, I get this queasy feeling. When the aircraft rushes down the runway and shudders into the sky, I feel faint. The whole time we're airborne, I feel weightless, but not in a good way. More like I'm being dangled over a pit of tigers—and the air between my toes and their teeth is far too thin for my liking.

Imagine the torture it is for me to fly to my annual business conferences. New York to Chicago is bad. New York to California? Unspeakable. All those hours suspended over the tiger pit. If only I could sleep, I could ignore my fears. But no. I fidget. I snack. I get up and go to the bathroom too many times. It's all enough to make me want to stay on the ground.

That's all in a year's work. But there are days, weeks, even months when my faith also feels like a flight to California. I hurtle down some theological runway, and I'm sure this time I'll crash. I fuss and fidget and worry that everyone is going to know I really can't do this faith thing . . . I've got insurmountable spiritual problems, too many doubts to qualify as a Christian.

This is one reason I love the Bible so much. I love the honesty of the people who wrote about faith giants who seemed likely to be disqualified. This honesty makes it possible for me to go to Moses and hear him say, with chutzpah, “Enough already, God. You birthed this people. I don't want to lead them anymore.” Or I can listen to Abraham accuse, “Are you really going to destroy the good people of Sodom and let everyone think you're just a bully in the sky?” I can get out of the boat with Peter, having trusted Jesus, only to realize that in fact I'm about to drown. I love the Bible for giving me permission to be afraid or angry or doubtful about faith.

I say the Bible gives me permission, because it's not silent on these matters. Rather it speaks plainly about people who didn't want to get airborne, were afraid of tigers (both real and hypothetical), didn't have enough courage to sit in the exit row and open the door in case of emergency. And I see that faith is not the complicated business I sometimes make it out to be. Instead, it simply requires that I take the trip, step in, stay on, listen for instructions.

Fidgeting is allowed.