Faith for the Journey

There are intangibles that somehow make all the tangible difference.

That which allows people to make progress in life in a discernible way of progress, do so by the intangible. When they talk about hard work or smart work they are not necessarily referring to something that can be measured by the sweat of the brow, the hours dedicated or a spreadsheet that monitors data. There is something within and beyond that informs that concept of hard/smart work. It’s just like saying someone is industrious or enthusiastic.

When thinking about my friend, Harry, I think about that intangible that has made an incredible difference in his journey. Faith.

No one else really believed anything could happen in the area to which he moved. Whatever businesses were in the area were on their last legs. Investment in the community seemed to be at an all time low and there were distinct tensions between different groups in the community. At one point it looked as though violence might erupt because of those tensions. When Harry told people that’s where he was moving to with his young family, they thought he was crazy. Taking a wife and children into that kind of atmosphere would be dreadful, they believed.

Harry believed as well. He just didn’t believe the same thing.

He was motivated by that faith. It was a crucial part of his armoury and pivotal to his journey. He trusted and acted on that trust even when physical circumstances appeared to contradict what he believed. In fact a few months after he moved to the neighbourhood there were skirmishes as gangs developed who would come against each other in small scrapes here and there. Things didn’t seem to be getting better, they appeared to be getting worse.

Harry believed that he could make the difference and he acted in line with that firm belief. He gathered a small group of people with him and encouraged them to likewise experience the faith and act on it. It was by that faith that he and his crew invested in young people throughout the community. It was by that faith that he inspired others to set up initiatives in that community. The turnaround was not overnight. The change did not come without cost to some of the relationships that were meant to be the most important to him. For whatever setback, though, he went right back to faith. For every knock down, he was only able to pick himself up and get on with the journey because of that faith.

Years later there is hardly any word on those skirmishes and tensions. Flourishing entrepreneurs have an environment to express their skills and abilities. Young people have an alternative to pursue than what their peers or materialistic consumerist culture encourages. It was not the work of one man alone, at all. But certainly one proved that a difference could be made.

It depended on having faith for the journey.

(Photo by Lauren Lulu Taylor on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden