What is faith?

I've noticed how we all operate on some level purely on "faith." For example, when I was raising my kids, and especially as they became teenagers (yeah, uh-huh), I believed there was something they would grow up to be, some stage they would grow out of, and some unique ways that they would become strong in themselves and who they were. I relied on that picture for the future for them - in belief that it was attainable - and in the knowledge that I had a part to play in their future life. But I also knew there would be choices they made along the way - that were their choices to make. So, the bottom line - I believed firmly in something so much that it was part of the fabric of who I was. I still have that same "faith" - that more is in store for them, Although, they are purely making their own decisions now, I believe I still have a part in their life - of encouraging, of praying, of believing there's more. And they have a part in my life - of praying, of encouraging and of believing. We impact one another's future very strongly.

I think that's, in a nutshell, what faith is. To be part of a journey where everything isn't "tangible and tastable" right this instant - but on the horizon. And as part of that journey, that we can believe and hope for good things, even better than now, because there is an all-powerful force at operation - pulling us towards the goodness, sweetness of life. I've discovered that we don't hope in vain, but as humans we are "programmed" to hope - something innately within us points us right-side up to hope for good things.

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (from the book of Hebrews in the Bible, Chapter 11, the first sentence - verse 1). There is much we hope for - because we know to be human is to hope. There is much we find conviction about - a lasting kind of conviction about some things - rather than an "anything goes" about everything. Our human experience teaches us to reach for more than is possible or seen right now. And this human experience is where God's very nature of goodness intersects with us in a very personal way. We would not have this hope - but for God's intersection. We would not have rational belief - but for God's intersection with our life.