2-9-2016

Keeping The Faith: A Prisoners Project

I am a Christian man. I also happen to be a gay man. I have spoke before about these two meeting together and what kind of sparks fly, and not in the good way either. Christianity and homosexuality have not exactly been bedfellows.
I believe that I don't have much choice but to believe in Jesus Christ. I could sit here and try and explain it to you or try and convince you how real He is and all that, but I will spare you that. What I want to talk about today is Faith. 
Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith is understanding that something is going to happen despite all logic pointing against it. This is where our "wishes" and "hopes" and "dreams" stem from. Our faith. Our faith in something, when things go bad we instinctively pray for help. How many times have you tried to bargain with God when stuff goes wrong. You'll say things like "God if your real then you'll...insert wish here". As if your challenging Him to prove his realness to you in your situation. 
I am speaking of Christian faith here, but faith is in all parts of our lives. It's something that I personally need to survive. Without faith, I have no hope of a future. No hope of a hereafter either. My time here is difficult. My own doing though, I understand that. I get that I put myself here, no qualms about that. That faith of something better, that I will not be confined to this definition of life. 
When we go through hard times, as we all do (Some worse then me, and they never even set foot in prison, btw.) it is prudent to remember that this is not the end of the world. There will be another moment after this particular one, see, it just happened. There is going to be something next. Sometimes I just need to tell myself to relax, that life is going to get better. Yeah, we need faith, but we also have to do our part, we have to believe that what we hope for, what we have faith in...is in fact real enough to happen. We have to envision it, we have to breath it, we have to inject it into our bloodstreams. We have to believe it with every ounce of our beings. Otherwise it's just another passing thought. Like that perfect body we all wish for, but don't want to work for. Just a thought...
If you want a great job, a better relationship or whatever it is that you are seeking. You have to know what that is going to look like. Then you have to have faith, faith in yourself, faith in God. Life isn't a magic trick, it's not a genie in a bottle that you just close your eyes and wish upon a star, not its real and defined and when you dream, you need to dream in detail. You need to dream in vivid color. 
You can't win the lottery by never buying a ticket. It doesn't work like that and neither does life. You have to play. You have to be active. When an illness is diagnosed in your life like cancer, you have to be active in your role with it. You have options, you can just wish for a fighting chance, or you can start fighting. When you see God then you can tell Him "I tried" I fought in faith. Such is life in all our areas, don't leave anything to chance, get up and work...even when it doesn't work right, even when things are tough...have faith in all areas. 

With Love
Jeff Utnage