Leap of Faith

     Last year during the season of Lent, I was challenged by my youth pastor, Scott, to forgo the traditional decision to give something up and instead find a difficult task to undertake.  He called it "The Nehemiah Challenge," based on the biblical book and prophet, Nehemiah.  For my challenge, I chose to start a blog... you may have heard of it. :)

     Thus began forty days of determination.  It wasn't an easy task; I had to trust God to inspire me daily and dig deep into the issues I often only considered on a surface level.  One of the most difficult aspects for me was making sure everything I wrote about was biblically rooted, rather than being a "notion" I had of God.  I was shocked to learn that some of my beliefs were things I had picked up along the way that weren't supported by (or sometimes were even in opposition to) the Bible.

     But no matter how difficult that short period of time seemed to me, it was entirely worth it.  The challenged forced me to study the Bible and my own opinions with a drive I had never before seen in my faith.  With each post I found myself "rediscovering" my love for the Lord.  Early on people began to share stories with me of how much the words I was writing were affecting them and causing them to think.  The topics began to transition themselves from written communication to verbal communication as my friends and I began to dive deeper into some of the ideas I presented.

     Then, it was Easter.  Feeling like I couldn't continue to post daily, especially while I was trying to tie up so many loose ends for graduation, I made the promise to try to post a few times a week.  My discipline quickly fizzled, and posts were few and far between.

     A good farmer does not stop when his first crop fails.  In one of his many parables, Jesus talks about what happens to a plant whose roots are not deep.  

     Matthew 13:20-21 reads, "The seed falling on the rocky soil refers to people who hear the word and at once receive it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away."

     Maybe it's his Indiana background, but my youth pastor is one good farmer.  On our mission trip last week, he challenged me to do find my drive again.  He reminded me of how much fruit my blog produced and called me out on how quickly I fell away from it after Lent ended.  His words did not fall on deaf ears.

     I want to produce good fruit.  Posting every day was difficult, but it was a practice that forced me into the Word daily and fostered habits that made my faith flourish.  The reward far outweighed the cost.  It may have taken me an entire summer of floundering to see that, but now I know.

     So if you check back tomorrow, you'll find a new post.  Because I think God has more than forty things to say through me.  This is my leap of faith... I'm closing my eyes and jumping.