Faith vs Information

“…because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:3 NIV

This past week has been eventful. Our biggest story was obviously our son graduating from high school. It has been a long but beautiful journey for him. The walk across the stage was a perfect metaphor for his life. He had a few practice attempts prior to the ceremony starting but for the real walk, he was on his own.

He started too soon. The gentleman reading the names tried to reset the walk, but it was a jittery start. All of the support around him just had to sit back and watch. He stopped at one point and just looked around. At that spot, he couldn’t see any of his team, it was just him. It only took a couple of seconds, but the room was silent. But then I could hear his classmates. Some of them started clapping. Maybe it was coincidental, but it seemed to help him. He finished his high school career on his own, being supported and encouraged by people I don’t even know.

When I took him to the practice session a couple of days earlier I ended up sitting with him surrounded by the rest of his class. I noticed something. When a teacher or an administrator stood up to talk, a class of around 250 kids went silent. They actually listened to instructions and followed them. The principal asked them for their undivided attention, and they gave it to him.

When he gave them instructions to leave the bleachers and set up for a practice walk through they did so in unison, quietly. It’s been around 100 years since I graduated from high school so I may not remember that accurately, but we were not quiet. Our daughters attended the same school as Korbin and when I was in Parks and Recreation, I worked with hundreds of high school aged kids. I have never seen a group as respectful as what I saw this past weekend.

I am 40 years older than our son. He will outlive me by several decades. We have spent a considerable amount of time “concerned” (sounds better than “worried”) about how that will look. I continually have to re-learn that such a future time frame is not to be my concern.

I actually wonder sometimes if God gets sort of tired of teaching me the same lesson over and over. But if I can see the answer to my questions, it is not faith. That would be information. I think God prefers to be in the faith building business more than He wants to be in the information sharing business. I am glad He is a patient teacher.

Why is my most consistent prayer request information seeking rather than faithfully aligning?

When was it exactly that I saw God fail?

Challenge: Taking that walk all alone. Blind faith in the Teacher is a beautiful thing to behold.

Rick Claiborn