Why Faith Matters To Me

On January 4th 1973 I did something crazy. I made a decision that radically rebooted my life and pulled me away from religion. All I had known to that point was a belief system based on religion. Do this…don’t do that…embrace this…release that…show up for this…run from that. It was mildly helpful but for the most part…I always felt lost. Being lost is such an unnerving experience. You can see it on the faces of little kids who momentarily loose the grip of mom’s hand at the store and cry out her name alone and frightened in aisle 4. Years ago while hunting in the “Big Woods” of Pennsylvania, we were sitting around the camp fire late at night when a young guy appeared out of the darkness. He had been lost for hours and even though he was a tough Marine home on leave…he was terrified by the experience and very happy to be found.

I was religious yet I was lost. That made no sense to me. There was an emptiness to my life that haunted me and I knew I belonged to something or someone bigger and ancient but just didn’t know how to make the connection. The decision in 1973 was to accept an offer made by God Himself. Someone had the guts to tell me that Jesus embodied substance, purpose, significance and had the true power to transport me from lost to found. God reached out His hand to me through a person willing to take a risk and walk up to a complete stranger with life changing news.

That was 36 years ago. I moved from religion to friendship. Faith matters to me because Jesus matters to me and I matter to Him.