: looking good in the neighborhood

I’m told—not being much of a sailor and enjoying being a land-lubber—that one of the most difficult parts of any sailing journey takes place at the very outset of the journey when you must navigate through narrow, shifting channels that often make up a port of call. I can imagine that it is much easier to navigate a ship through the open and deep expanses of the ocean but far more difficult when it comes to the shallow, reef-filled channels that lead to the safety of the harbor. Navigating would seem more like a wrestling match between man and ship not to mention current and land.

Early on in my journey of spiritual recovery, I found myself in a wrestling match. You see when I was younger I swallowed a view of God, that in the words of author Terry Esau, gave me spiritual indigestion. The question became what do I do with this view of God that I was force-fed since I was a child. Do I throw it out? Do I remodel it? Do I find another view of God or another God entirely that goes down easier? Or do I just keep eating the rotten meat because that is what I am supposed to do. After all, shouldn’t we expect some rotten meat along our faith journey? Don’t we just suck it up and digest it just because we’re supposed to feel some discomfort in this journey?

This questioning mode that I found myself in is exactly where God wants me. To summarize Terry Esau again, I’ve begun pressure-washing my faith to find out what’s under the religious film that covered my life. I had to test and prove to myself that what I hold to be true—about God, faith and life—is really true, not just something that I have put on like so many of those hand-me-down clothes I wore as a child. Until you make your faith your own, your just wearing someone else’s faith. This of course may look good to the people around you—and I sure looked shiny clean in my church best—but makes about as much sense as my thirteen year old son trying to lace up my size ten golf shoes simply because they fit me.

Why is it then, that is it so important for us to look good? Who decides what looks good? I enjoy watching the popular TLC program What Not to Wear, but who died and put them in charge of what looks good? Is my “good” the same as your “good” and more importantly, is it the same as God’s “good”? Thoughts anyone?