Balancing Faith and Reality

I wouldn't normally call myself an eavesdropper. I don't make it a common practice to listen into other people's conversation....sometimes it just happens upon you. I was standing in the foyer of our church yesterday, waiting for my family to get ready to go, and I happened to hear the tail end of a discussion between a couple of people. There was one comment made by a young gentleman that has really stuck with me throughout today. I believe that they were discussing something that the church would like to accomplish, but at this time, the cold, hard, financial facts seem to say otherwise. He said something along these lines: "I understand what you're saying, but, I'm young, and I want it now."

Tim and I are very practical people. So practical sometimes that it just about kills me. Every step that we have ever deliberately made in life has been very calculated. I remember Tim's deliberation of a back pack. Yes, you read that right....a back pack. I don't remember the value of that back pack....but come on....it for sure wasn't a staggering amount. He had researched that back pack to pieces. The pros. The cons. The pockets. The zippers The company. And so on. Even then, after we got to the store, I can't even begin to tell you how long he stood in the back pack aisle contemplating that purchase. I would wander the store looking at anything and everything...come back...and there he'd be...still contemplating. I guess that contemplating was a good thing....he still uses that back pack today. (That could also be a product of his frugality too. If it ain't busted, it doesn't need replaced.)

Then I think about the purchase of our home. The manufactured home that we had been living in and were trying to sell, had been on the market for 2 agonizing years. I wanted to get into a real house desperately. I ranted and cried about that house more times than I am sure the Lord wanted to count. (Thankfully I have learned that God keeps a short list.) Tim had always said that we would not look at houses until we had an offer on that manufactured home. I began to pray...."Lord...you need to either move this house, or move my husband." I thought for sure He would move the house....because moving my husband is nigh on to impossible. Yet, God moved the impossible. Through a serious of event, my husband allowed us to take a leap of faith and buy our current home without a buyer for our manufactured home. Within a month's time, we had sold the manufactured home.

What caused our home to sell when it did? Was God waiting for us to step out of our predicted steps and act in faith before He would allow the house to sell? The Israelites had to step into the Jordan and get their feet wet before God stopped the water from flowing so that the nation could pass through on dry land. Let me tell you, it was a very difficult thing for my husband to take that step of faith. On paper...and past history of the attempts at selling our old house....everything said NO WAY. I must say, that I prayed about things a lot. I even had times of worry and doubt. Yet, there were so many blessings that came out of that leap of faith....in my opinion anyway. Did we have to step into the watter and get our feet wet first before God acted?
That is such a hard line to judge. For me, it is so easy to talk faith. Faith, defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing; belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence." Talk is an easy thing. It is the action that is so stinking difficult. It makes me think of the contenders on American Gladiator. (never realized they would be such good illustrations in life!!) They puff themselves up and talk all kinds of trash....on how they are going to beat the Gladiators and conquer those tasks. Their words sound great and we have these great hopes that they will do great. Yet, when they get into the action, they find things are a whole lot harder than they thought!!! See....it is the action that is so difficult.

So how do we balance faith and reality? Sometimes, on paper, things don't look feasible. Our finite little minds look at something and see NO WAY can something happen. Yet, God is the God of the Impossible. God does not always work within the logic of man. (Thank Goodness!!) He often uses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. In the instance of the conversation yesterday, I'm not sure there is an obvious path to take. Personally, I wish that our church would take that leap of faith and see what God will do. My old and practical side, says that logically we should wait.

My parting thought on this, as things are getting more tangled than I wished, in what decision would God be able to display His awesomeness more?