A Moab Kind Faith

After Church on Labor Day weekend, my family began a whirlwind 2 night trip to Moab and back. Although we’ve been in Utaha year, we had not had the opportunity to check out southern part of the state (we’ve only been as far as Provo). On Monday, Vicky, Jack, and I were simply awestruck by the sandstone “sculptures” of Arches National Park. Wow!!! To think that something THAT beautiful is only 4 hours away!! But maybe those 4 hours are an important distance…

Although the beauty of the “arches” dwarf the Wasatch Front here in Salt Lake Valley, our mountains are still pretty amazing. When I first got to Salt Lake City I found my gaze lingering on them often. Now on some days, I find myself ignoring the Wasatch altogether. But I shouldn’t be surprised, in Seattle I lived just 3 minutes from the Puget Sound and a beautiful view of Mount Rainer and I got pretty good at ignoring them as well.

Sometimes when things are a little harder to enjoy it makes it all the easier to enjoy them. Isn’t our relationship with God kind of like this? We start off all gung-ho for Jesus but then find our life in faith slip into something more comfortable or routine. It can lose its freshness and we can even begin to appreciate it less (kind of like our Wasatch Mountains). Psalm 146.1-2 says, “Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” I have to admit that my praise of the Lord is sometimes sporadic at best.

I want a faith where I find myself lingering on God often... don’t you? So what are some of the ways we can keep our faith fresh? For me, it's important that I not only "read" up on God but I also talk to others about what I'm wrestling with. That sort of interaction tends to keep my faith real. How do you keep your faith just as fresh?