Leap of Faith

I called our son, Greg, the day before yesterday to see how their trip to San Antonio was going. His jocular laugh filled my ear as he said, “We’re walking around in Italy, Texas, taking a break and not in any particular hurry!”

“Italy, Texas!” I said. “That’s where we were stuck for about 45 minutes in a traffic jam last week!” We had been coming back from Houston to stop at our son, Trevor’s, house near Waxahachie; and now, 18 miles from there, we had come to a halt. We were to be there for supper and were already an hour behind, and now this!

Nothing is so frustrating as being slowed down or held up in your progress, whether on a trip or in life. I was just thinking about the comparison this morning, when after church and lunch out, Howard suggested we watch a video of a person of an eastern religion coming to Christ. The young woman in the video started out by saying life is like a trip, with many bumps and delays along the way.

She was prompted to say this while on a train in an Asian country that had unexpectedly stopped, and she was trying to console a frustrated fellow passenger. Then, as she looked out the window at a field, she realized in amazement that this was a familiar place. The long interruption of travel provided opportunity for conversation between the two women.

“I grew up here!” she told her new acquaintance. The scene flashed back to her as a child flying a kite in the field with her father. Suddenly her father had groped his chest and crumpled on the ground in front of the terrified child. He died of a heart attack, plunging the family into a time of uncertainty and confusion, complicated by the revelation of her father’s infidelity in her parents’ marriage.

The 12-year-old had become bitter and full of unforgiveness, even giving up on her religion and principles. After wayward living and during a religious holiday, she decided to earnestly seek God and His will for her. As she pleaded in prayer to know God, a light appeared to her and a figure that she somehow knew was Jesus told her to follow Him. This changed her life, but she was forced to leave home and be on her own at age 16.

In telling the story of her journey and the many rough places accompanied by God’s faithfulness, she realized she could at last forgive her father. “So there is a happy ending?” her seatmate asked.

“That is up to you,” the young woman replied, with the unspoken, but understood, invitation for the older woman to follow Christ.

We are not promised an easy road in our Christian experience, and there will be bumps and delays impeding our progress in our walk with Him. But it is inspiring to hear of others who are faithful despite almost insurmountable odds. Jesus is still extending salvation to “whosoever will.”