A Grip On Faith

Hope is candlelight in a damp and cold place, with a bitter wind bursting forth outside a creaking shack; it seems like it's barely anything to keep you warm, but something of it burns inside of you, keeps that little piece of your soul warm, that without it, you would be lost and forlorn.

Faith is that blind leap into a vastness you cannot begin to comprehend, but are willing to face because you believe there has to be more to life than this, more to life than mediocrity and plainness, more to this existence than just being born to die.... Faith is daring to live!

Sometimes in life we get to this strange place - for one it's like the deepest pit of hell, for another it's like the coldest, most frozen side of the mountain, and for yet another it's like a wasteland, bleak, barren and void - and we begin to question - question ourselves, question our lives, question our beliefs, we may even ask ourselves what really is the meaning of this word which before I threw around so flippantly?

Faith. You live by it everyday without thinking - like the way you take each step with confidence fully trusting gravity to not let you float off into space; like the way you breathe - trusting the air to be there the next time you inhale. And it's like that with God, He is like the air, except He is even more worthy of our trust. He is faithful and true, He is there ready to rescue you just like that next breath...after all, He gave the first... And He wants you to know that He is worthy of your trust. He wants you to know that though the world may give a different impression of Him, He never changes, He is ever-loving, ever-faithful, ever-true, ever watching over you and all you need to do is cry out to Him, and in Your next breath His manifest presence surrounds you...

"....So let me dry away your lonesome tears like the sun melts morning dew,
and I will wrap you up in true, true love and I'll be faithful to you.."

In this world of pain and sorrow, where a promise won't hold true:
here's a vow you can be sure of, I'll be faithful to you." **

God is faithful and true.

Private Barney

**(from a song by DON WILLIAMS)


But now, this is what the LORD says - He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour;
I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead, since you are precious and honoured in my sight and because I love you....."

- ISAIAH 43:1-4


For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.

- PSALM 48:14