Ed Christian's World

Hope and Faith are synonymous with each other, but does that mean they are the same?

Hope is defined as: A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen, a feeling of trust.

Faith is defined as: Complete trust or confidence in someone or something. A strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

Synonymous, but not quite the same. They both define as a trust, one a feeling of trust, the other a complete trust. For me they are so close they could be the same. Take for instance this: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the reality of things unseen. This verse from the Book of Hebrews Chapter 11 Verse 1 probably defines the very essence of both in one sentence.

We have faith that when we flip the switch, the light will turn on, yet we don’t see the electric power flowing through the wires. Being involved in the electric field I know the electricity is there, because I felt it many times in my life. Shocking, I know. I have faith in God, even though most have never seen Him, I have been in His immediate presence. But that is me, not everyone can say that.

Life is full of twists and turns. Sometimes a curve is thrown in somewhere in the middle. I’ve talked many times about rolling with the flow and living life to the fullest. Many times I have been asked how to roll when you don’t know what is around the next bend.

This is where Faith and Hope enter the. picture. I have faith that God knows what is best for me and hope that everything I need will be provided at the time it is needed. I have never been let down. There has been times that I had to look real hard for the solution, but it has always been there right in front of me. I have also learned that I need to listen when He is talking to me, even when I think I can see the direction I need to take. Sometimes the path I think I need to take is not the path He wishes me to take and I end up re-tracing my steps and starting again. I’m sure we all have similar stories of life that we could share. Our lives have had many very dark times, but through faith we have found the little light at the end of the tunnel to show us the way. Isn’t it nice that there is always a light showing us a way out of the darkness?

Faith is that light and hope is the reality that it will be there to lead us home. That is the essence of Hebrews 11:1 God is always there to guide us if we will just ask Him for direction. I see this at night when I go out and look into the heavens. The stars give me hope and a satisfaction that God is watching over me. A long time ago I defined hope as when the darkest times come, the stars will come out.

I guess the essence of this is depending on how you define Faith and Hope in reality is how you define yourself. Are you living a life of joy and happiness, or are you constantly fighting with life, living in despair?

How do you define your life?

When it is the darkest, the stars will come out.

Love,

Ed

I remember, back when I was a child, my Grandfather talking to me about life. Life is something you learn and live, not something you control. You flow through life, don’t fight it, let it carry you, it just may surprise you how much you learn to feel.

I remember one particular morning I came to him about some little problem I had. He picked up a glass of water, held it out in front of me and asked how much does this glass of water weigh? I would guess about 5 or 6 ounces, I responded. He just laughed at me and set the glass down on the table.

Then he started talking “The weight of the glass really depends on how long you hold it. When you first pick it up, it is not so heavy, but the longer you hold it the heavier it becomes. Pick up the glass and hold it out in front of you. See it seems easy right? So now five minutes later you start to feel a little pain in your arm, after 15 minutes the glass seems to have gained more weight, and your arm is tired. Now imagine holding it out at arms length all day, it is really heavy now. So let’s put the glass down and analyze what just happened.

Life happenings are like holding that glass, the longer you fight them, the heavier they get. Life is meant to be lived to the best of your ability, to be enjoyed not despised. So when life throws you a curve, bend with it and see where it takes you. You just may be surprised how enlightened you become.”

Yes, life is like that glass of water, the longer you hold it the heavier it becomes. There is nothing you can’t do in life if you are willing to bend with flow and not fight it at every turn. Your goals are always obtainable when you just let life happen.

Remember, you have to put down the glass!

Love,

Ed

Our origins / We believe…

When it comes to our origins, most Christian’s will agree we were created by God. At our church, a few weeks ago, we went through three weeks of fairly intense training designed to prove we were created and not evolved.

The seminars were mainly around just how old the universe is and attempted to prove the earth (universe) is just around 5000 years old, not the millions of years we were led to believe. Though the classes were interesting and the instructors presented an interesting argument, it seemed to create more confusion rather than answers for most of us, especially the older people among us.

Two of the instructors, Dr’s. Hebert and Lisle from the Institute for Creation Research, put on the most persuasive presentations explaining how the book of Genesis describes in detail the origins of our universe and how it all happened in seven ‘normal’ days. Their theory, using Dr. Hebert’s explanation is that using the timeline presented in the Bible our universe is just around 4500 to 5000 years old. This puts questions into everything we were taught, and is still being taught, in school. When questioned, by me, about this they both either changed the subject or said the pastor was looking for them and walked away.

As a Bible believing Christian, I don’t think most Christians care if the universe is 5000 years or 3 million years old, but that is my opinion. The ICR belief is designed to give us answers to offset the beliefs of those who are pushing evolution over creation. In the end it still comes down to how life is formed and intelligence is gathered. As a Christian I know God has given me life and has blessed me with fairly good intelligence.
I think, for Christian’s, the Newsboys song “We Believe” pretty much says it all.

“We Believe”

In this time of desperation
When all we know is doubt and fear
There is only one foundation
We believe, we believe
In this broken generation
When all is dark, You help us see
There is only one salvation
We believe, we believe

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He’s given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He’s comin’ back again, we believe

So, let our faith be more than anthems
Greater than the songs we sing
And in our weakness and temptations
We believe, we believe!

We believe in God the Father!
We believe in Jesus Christ!
We believe in the Holy Spirit!
And He’s given us new life!
We believe in the crucifixion!
We believe that He conquered death!
We believe in the resurrection!
And He’s comin’ back again!

Let the lost be found and the dead be raised!
In the here and now, let love invade!
Let the church live loud our God we’ll say
We believe, we believe!
And the gates of hell will not prevail!
For the power of God, has torn the veil!
Now we know Your love will never fail!
We believe, we believe!

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He’s given us new life!
We believe in the crucifixion!
We believe that He conquered death!
We believe in the resurrection!
And He’s comin’ back,
He’s comin’ back again!
He’s comin’ back again!
We believe!
We believe

Have a blessed day!

Love,

Ed