Faith; The First Component of F.O.C.U.S.

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1

If what I’ve seen in my travels is even 1/10th the glory of what I can expect in heaven, I can’t wait to get there. Now that my children are all full grown adults walking in salvation through Christ as is my wife, I know it’s only a blink of an eye and when I get there, they too will walk through those gates that we might continue eternity together hiking and (at that time) flying all over the universe. I am growing wearing of this world and it’s deception, lies, and betrayals. My contention has become, through my travels, that what I see is the evidence which points to those things which I cannot see. These things I see give me the strength to believe in something I cannot see.

Billy Graham famously said, “I cannot see the wind. I can see effects of the wind, but I cannot see the wind. There’s a mystery to it”.

If we are to fully develop our FOCUS in life, the very first element we must grasp and engage is what is called Faith. This is the foundation for everything else in our lives. It determines how we run and then finish the race.

The Bible is not lacking in how to understand and define Faith.

I’d like to, however, pull a little bit from the dictionary on this word, Faith, before we get further into the discussion.

In the Webster’s 1828 dictionary Faith has a number of definitions. The very first is the common way in which we understand faith.

“Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence;”

I like that.

I like to apply this to the Lord. Being declared by another. RESTING on his authority and veracity. Veracity being rooted in the word truth or truthfulness.

For me, spending time in His Creation opens up and exposes over and over again the truth of His existence. Over countless hours and days while out in the wild, often alone with my thoughts, I was exposed to his authority and veracity simply by observing his creation of the past. Those things which seemingly are permanent structures. Items such as a mountain or a vast canyon.

Yet, in further thought and study, those things are constantly evolving. All the way down to the small grain of sand being moved down The Green River as it flows through Canyonlands National Park or the seemingly permanent rock of the large mountain before my eyes suddenly breaking free to start a rock slide down the mountain; changing it’s face.

What seems permanent is not. It becomes clear he is still very active in it’s alteration. Constantly creating. At the very least, He set up matters to always be changing and evolving (much to the dismay of our “climate change” cult groupies). There is a constant creation of new beauty. Such is the case with the sunrises and sunsets. No two are ever alike. Often the most recent more stunning than the last.

Another way Webster’s defines Faith in part is the “assent of the mind to the truth of divine revelation, on the authority of God’s testimony…an entire confidence or trust in God’s character and declarations, and in the character and doctrines of Christ, with an unreserved surrender of the will to his guidance…” I have a very difficult time with that last part. I always have.

When standing at the edge of a canyon, wondering at the glory of the majestic sunrise taking place immediately before my eyes it’s impossible for me to at the very least not stare in disbelief at the magnitude of it all.

Or perhaps I’m sitting under the stars in the middle of the black of the night, darker than dark where no light pollutes the sky. It’s here, in this spot, I can more fully understand the faith of those who came before us. Those who wrote the passages and pages which we call the bible.

In their day, there was no light pollution. Nothing really to impede the night sky from enveloping them and showing them the other side of God’s creative coin, that which we deem night.

Sure. They had flame torches to light the streets in the evening hours. However, it wouldn’t take much of a walk to escape the ambient light and get oneself into a vast darkness under which you could truly observe the amazing wonders in the star filled universe.

In the first few verses of Hebrews 11, the author puts in this way in the The Message version. “The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd”.

It further says “By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.”

and

“Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him”.

This is why I have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy the life on the road; the travel to the various remote locations I have been. The more remote the better.

It’s impossible for me, in my mind, when witnessing the nearly unimaginable sites before me when out there, to deny that something greater than me, than us, exists. It is a comfort to remind myself that he actually cares enough to respond to me when I inquire of his wisdom and help.

The Testing

When on the road and making journeys across the land seeking my next location it’s inevitable to not run into situations which most certainly will test my faith.

In a number of situations I have faced mechanical trouble; to be expected while on the road. Yet, God has always provided right at the exact moment I’ve needed a bump in a certain direction.

Each of theses various moments in life helped to cement my faith. They told me He was indeed watching over me and not only was providing what was necessary at the time, but going out ahead of me, paving my path, making sure I was taken care of. These instances most certainly reinforced the “…he cares enough to respond to those who seek him…”

I think of the time while on the expressway headed toward Michigan for the fall colors across the Upper Peninsula. I stopped to talk on the phone for a moment with my daughter. During the call, while pulled off the road, I noted the tire on my van was nearly 1/2 empty. I noticed this just before a decent sized city would be on the horizon of the road on which I was traveling. This gave me plenty of warning to stop driving, fill up the tire with my portable air pump and then stop for the night. Before stopping, I picked up some stop leak and filled the tire with it, putting more air in as it has leaked even while simply traveling to the auto parts store. Thankfully the tire held over night while I parked and slept at the Cracker Barrel. I was able to get to Sam’s Club early in the AM to get the repairs done and was again back on the road.

On another occasion, while near the Grand Tetons a friend of mine and I stopped for coffee in the small town of Jackson. From there, we would head about 30 miles into the Bridger Teton Wilderness to spend a few days hiking.

While stopping for coffee early morning, we noted a steam coming up from the hood. I knew immediately we had a cooling system issue. Coolant system failures are some of my least favorite mechanical problems. For whatever reason they just make my heart sink. Fortunately we were still in Jackson. We stopped at Napa. The part was not in stock and would need to be ordered. This would strand us in Jackson until Monday, for this was a Saturday morning. Not to mention the part was $148.

Down the road was a Car Quest. We drove down and explained our problem to the service counter. They didn’t seem to know what we needed. We went outside with the parts counter rep and we all looked under the hood. Three of us attempted to discern the exact issue and went back inside.

While discussing it, another gentlemen who had just come in to work for the morning overheard our problem. He spoke up. “I know just what is happening and what you need”. He walked me over to the wall display holding various hoses, pipes, fittings and so forth. He grabbed a $4 part, handed it to me and said, “Install this. The problem is that Y connector and it’s a consistent problem with your vehicle in specific. I see at least one person a week in here with the same problem on the Dodge Grand Caravan.”

Sure enough, that single inexpensive part fixed it and we then were able to travel on successfully and safely. After dropping him off to fly home days later, I logged thousands of additional miles safely.

It was amazing to me in each of these instances how I was in the right place at the right time. I don’t believe this was accidental at all. Instead, I believe my path was cleared and made right in order to get me safely taken care of.

These kinds of instances would take place every few days on the road and at each and every time, God would show up in some way. It was almost as if to say “Don’t worry, I am here and I have you covered”.

It’s easy, when facing the issues with which we struggle to see them as negatives. Even to this day, while I struggle so with various life challenges I find myself quickly getting wrapped up in the immediate problem and seem to forget the past ways in which the Lord has rescued me. I am seemingly to my dismay in a constant stream of new challenges which foment my worry and anxiety quickly compelling me toward a state of frustration and depression wanting to give up entirely.

Sometimes It’s the Smaller Things

I found it to be very interesting while at my campsite in the Marble Canyon area of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. In the photo here I am parked literally right at the edge of a mammoth overlook. I was 30 miles off the road and all by myself. Save a family of little hummingbirds.

So here I am at one of the giant wonders of the world. The scale of which I have yet to see a comparatively equal site.

While there, the family of tiny hummingbirds, about 6 in total kept me company from morning `til night. They would fly into the van, hover around, checking it all out like a UFO in Close Encounters of the 3rd kind.

During my stay, I was filming with my phone doing some talking into the camera, VLOG style. While filming my humming bird friends stopped by to see what I was doing.

Notice the one pecking at my hat? This alone was great. The others were inside the van at the time. But for about 2 minutes they would come over to my head, check the hat, move on.

This little guy flew right up to the camera on my phone, looked at it and then…turning around, landed on my phone and just sat there, eye to eye with me as if to say, “Hey, how you doing?”. Looking at me, blinking his hummingbird eyes, barely moving.

I was looking at God’s handiwork in two different scales simultaneously, while at the same time experiencing something almost miraculous, that being this small fast flying bird that I adore so much actually landing on my phone.

God knows my love of hummingbirds (inherited from my mother and her father). It was as if the Lord himself reached down to say “you think that canyon is big, watch this…” and lands his bird on my phone.

After they left for the afternoon, I simply remained in awe of how in control of everything He really is.

Interestingly, it was the smallest thing in this equation that really spoke the loudest that afternoon!

This is going to close out my first dissertation on this F.O.C.U.S matter. Faith being the first. I am not finished quite yet with the Faith section. I am going to pick that up in the coming days. Until then, stay tuned. I have so much more to share.

Hey, in case you don’t know or might not remember, I appreciate you and am thankful for your willingness to read what I have to share.

-rob out