This I believe
Recently National Public Radio began airing a series of essays during various parts of their programming day called “This I believe”. This series allowed a wide array of people some famous, some not, to read an essay about the one thing that they belive in passionately. Colin Powell’s essay was about his belief in public service. Robert Reisch’s essay was on the need for government intervention in general. They even aired several heart touching essays one from the mother of an autistic child, and another from a formerly homeless person. I have often wondered while listening to these essays in my car either going to or coming from work, what my “This I believe” essay would be about if I ever wrote. What follows is the outgrowth of that wondering.
This piece has become the hallmark expression of the type of faith I desire to participate with and the God that presides over it.
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This I believe. I believe in almighty God. I know that simple sentence might seem small, dated or cliché, but it is the one true thing that I believe in more than anything else. I believe in the God that hovered over the waters looking into the soon to be heavens and spoke, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” I believe in the God that created something that he called GOOD in man on the first try. I believe in the God that flung the stars into their orbits by the simple spoken declaration of will. I believe in the God that provided this perfect place for us to dwell, it might not be the Garden of Eden (thank you Eve.),but it sure beats the heck out of Jupiter (especially this time of year).
I believe in the mighty God that we see displayed in the Bible. The God of creation we see at work when he performed the amazing act of will that was creation in six days. I believe in the God of Holiness who could not abide the fall of man in the garden, the time of the flood, or in Sodom. I believe in the God of compassion who acted to part the Red Sea, provided the ram to spare Issac, and ravens to feed Elijah in the wilderness. I believe in the God of mercy that relented and gave Hezekiah, currently on his death bed twenty more years of life. I believe in the God of forgiveness that we find for the murderer in Moses, the adulterer in David, the liar in Abram, and the weakness in Peter.
I further believe that this God has not wandered off to some more interesting bauble or is somehow uninterested in the affairs of men. I don’t believe in an inattentive maker that created everything we see and hear and then somehow became more interested in playing the back nine at Augusta, because as God he gets an awesome tee time. I believe in an active interventionist God. The God that intervened to save his people in Egypt still exists. The God that sought out the confrontation with his people at Mount Carmel still exists. The God that sent his people into slavery not once but twice in an effort to bring them back into a right relationship with him still exists. The God that placed a Queen in the right place at the right time to save her people from genocide still does that very thing. The God that placed a sea of flaming chariots around his prophet to protect him from those who would blindly seek his destruction still works that way. I believe in the God that placed an angel in Balaam’s path to kill him if he failed to heed the warnings of a talking ass.
I know all of this to be true, because God has provided mercy and compassion in my life countless times. Through amazing mercy I found the path out of addiction. Had this path not materialized when it did, I would either be a mindless gibbering idiot or dead. God granted me mercy when I fell asleep at the wheel of my Beretta for thirty or so miles in the desert at seventy plus miles an hour without incident. This same God drove me into the wilderness by joining the Navy which was the equivalent of slavery. He brought me home again without any lasting scars at the end of my tour. I saw the coup in the Soviet Union from the tip of the national defense spear on a ballistic missile submarine. I remember sitting at battle stations for many long hours during that ordeal.
God saved my life when I was hit with high voltage power of the active sonar system of the submarine when I made a mistake in doing a voltage check. This mistake drove me across the torpedo room of the submarine like a rag doll in the gaping maw of a rabid dog. Luckily this knocked me unconscious either from the force of the electricity or from the blow to my head as I smacked a torpedo. I laid there in a crumpled heap with a smoking beard and everyone wondered when I came around how I survived. This same mistake killed other sonar technicians over the years on this class of submarine. The only answer I can discern is that somehow God intervened.
This same God blessed me beyond measure with my wife. He has taught me what it really means to love unconditionally as I have taken on the role of both husband and father. I didn’t earn any of this. I don’t deserve any of this by any means. I have been and continue to be the fortunate and grateful recipient of his mercy and favor.
So the issue of my belief all boils down to this simple set of statements. I believe that the power that turned on the sun still resides in the very being of God. The mercy that granted Adam and Eve clothing still resides in the arms of God. The compassion that parted the Red Sea still resides in the hands of God. The forgiveness that was experienced by the thief on the cross still resides in the mouth of God. If we as the human race would but repent, humble ourselves, and callout to Heaven, our world would be healed. If we as Christians had but mustard seed sized faith in the God we profess to believe in, imagine the things that could be accomplished. God stands at the door waiting for us to seek him, He stands at the door of our faith waiting for us to be the hands and feet of his will.
This piece has become the hallmark expression of the type of faith I desire to participate with and the God that presides over it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This I believe. I believe in almighty God. I know that simple sentence might seem small, dated or cliché, but it is the one true thing that I believe in more than anything else. I believe in the God that hovered over the waters looking into the soon to be heavens and spoke, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” I believe in the God that created something that he called GOOD in man on the first try. I believe in the God that flung the stars into their orbits by the simple spoken declaration of will. I believe in the God that provided this perfect place for us to dwell, it might not be the Garden of Eden (thank you Eve.),but it sure beats the heck out of Jupiter (especially this time of year).
I believe in the mighty God that we see displayed in the Bible. The God of creation we see at work when he performed the amazing act of will that was creation in six days. I believe in the God of Holiness who could not abide the fall of man in the garden, the time of the flood, or in Sodom. I believe in the God of compassion who acted to part the Red Sea, provided the ram to spare Issac, and ravens to feed Elijah in the wilderness. I believe in the God of mercy that relented and gave Hezekiah, currently on his death bed twenty more years of life. I believe in the God of forgiveness that we find for the murderer in Moses, the adulterer in David, the liar in Abram, and the weakness in Peter.
I further believe that this God has not wandered off to some more interesting bauble or is somehow uninterested in the affairs of men. I don’t believe in an inattentive maker that created everything we see and hear and then somehow became more interested in playing the back nine at Augusta, because as God he gets an awesome tee time. I believe in an active interventionist God. The God that intervened to save his people in Egypt still exists. The God that sought out the confrontation with his people at Mount Carmel still exists. The God that sent his people into slavery not once but twice in an effort to bring them back into a right relationship with him still exists. The God that placed a Queen in the right place at the right time to save her people from genocide still does that very thing. The God that placed a sea of flaming chariots around his prophet to protect him from those who would blindly seek his destruction still works that way. I believe in the God that placed an angel in Balaam’s path to kill him if he failed to heed the warnings of a talking ass.
I know all of this to be true, because God has provided mercy and compassion in my life countless times. Through amazing mercy I found the path out of addiction. Had this path not materialized when it did, I would either be a mindless gibbering idiot or dead. God granted me mercy when I fell asleep at the wheel of my Beretta for thirty or so miles in the desert at seventy plus miles an hour without incident. This same God drove me into the wilderness by joining the Navy which was the equivalent of slavery. He brought me home again without any lasting scars at the end of my tour. I saw the coup in the Soviet Union from the tip of the national defense spear on a ballistic missile submarine. I remember sitting at battle stations for many long hours during that ordeal.
God saved my life when I was hit with high voltage power of the active sonar system of the submarine when I made a mistake in doing a voltage check. This mistake drove me across the torpedo room of the submarine like a rag doll in the gaping maw of a rabid dog. Luckily this knocked me unconscious either from the force of the electricity or from the blow to my head as I smacked a torpedo. I laid there in a crumpled heap with a smoking beard and everyone wondered when I came around how I survived. This same mistake killed other sonar technicians over the years on this class of submarine. The only answer I can discern is that somehow God intervened.
This same God blessed me beyond measure with my wife. He has taught me what it really means to love unconditionally as I have taken on the role of both husband and father. I didn’t earn any of this. I don’t deserve any of this by any means. I have been and continue to be the fortunate and grateful recipient of his mercy and favor.
So the issue of my belief all boils down to this simple set of statements. I believe that the power that turned on the sun still resides in the very being of God. The mercy that granted Adam and Eve clothing still resides in the arms of God. The compassion that parted the Red Sea still resides in the hands of God. The forgiveness that was experienced by the thief on the cross still resides in the mouth of God. If we as the human race would but repent, humble ourselves, and callout to Heaven, our world would be healed. If we as Christians had but mustard seed sized faith in the God we profess to believe in, imagine the things that could be accomplished. God stands at the door waiting for us to seek him, He stands at the door of our faith waiting for us to be the hands and feet of his will.
