Sometimes as a World Racer, and especially now as an alumnus, it feels like we are supposed to have everything figured out. I know that people do not actually believe that we have everything mapped out, but sometimes that is my perception of what they are thinking.
Since I have come home from China, I have discovered that this has been a difficult year for a whole lot of people. Yes, my year had a lot of ups and downs, but overall, it was a truly fantastic year. I came home with a lot of wind in my sails. I knew that I would be entering some stormy seas when I came home, but to actually be experiencing it is a bit different than to know it is coming. There are many others who have had a good year as well, but a lot of people close to me have had a really tough year.
What happens when the things you think you can rely on give out. What happens when the people you trusted fail you? What happens when the God you believe in, doesn’t seem to be so real anymore?
These have been some of the questions swirling around various people around me since I have returned. The weird thing is, none of it was like this before I left. But this year has left a lot of question marks in people’s minds. Who is God really? And what does He even mean in my life? Does God even exist?
Many times, Christians tend to answer these questions with statements like “you just gotta have faith.” or “you just need to read your Bible, and pray about it.” or sometimes “so your not a Christian anymore?” Saying something like that doesn’t really seem to help the situation any.
I think that many Christians are afraid to ask the tough questions. I know I have had that sentiment before. “What happens if I don’t like the answer I get?”
But in fact, by failing to ask those tough questions that are deep within us, we deny ourselves the opportunity to truly know who God is. If we always just gloss over the shortcomings in the answers we have been given, we allow ourselves to become very pretty, but very unstable Christians. If one more block gets taken out of our Jenga tower of life, then everything about us is shattered.
I believe that God is the one who keeps pulling those Jenga (that game where you keep trying to take one more block out of the tower without making it fall) blocks out of us.
The men in the Bible, classics like David especially, often questioned God. They wondered where God was. They even got pissed at God. And most times people now think that is a bad thing. But I believe that it is through wrestling with God and asking tough questions, that we will ever grow closer to God.
Don’t be afraid to ask those deep questions. God is big enough to be able to handle those toughies.
