My Christian faith is a huge part of my life. Or, I at least want
it to be. My hope is that my faith permeates every aspect of my
existence -- from difficult life decisions to common, everyday living.
It's a lofty goal -- I know. And a lot of the time, I do a pretty bad
job of it. Thank God for grace...
Now, I know a lot of people have problems with Christians, church,
and religion in general. I'd like to think that I'm at least somewhat
familiar with some of the complaints and criticisms people have: "Christians
are close-minded and think only in black & white"; "religion
is for the weak-minded";"Christians are just as bad as non-religions
people -- so what good is being one?"; and "you can't
prove it, so why do you believe in it?". Basically, I think all
these critiques and criticisms have merit. I can understand where they're
coming from. In fact, I might even half-way agree with a few of them.
But I am still a Christian nonetheless. I won't go and get into the
why part of that here and now. I'll only say that I have thought
about these issues and am still a Christian in spite of them.
Regarding church: for the past few years, I have been fortunate to
attend and be part of an incredible church in the Grand Rapids area,
Ada Bible Church. I must say that I really love that place and the people
there. I don't want to turn this into a "Puh-raise
JAY-sus for my church!" thing, but I have to say that Ada's main
pastor, Jeff Manion, is an incredibly gifted preacher and teacher, and
that his messages truly make the Bible come alive. And beyond that,
the people of Ada Bible seem genuinely passionate about service -- to
one another and the community. All in all, Ada Bible is a great place
that I find very enriching and fulfilling; it's been a great church-home.
