Jump... Don't be afraid!

The way, the truth, the life.

It's all we need, but it's hardly enough. We are under the impression that there is something we can do to save our souls: be nice to people, follow the 10 commandments, go to church enough, pray enough, read the bible enough. All of it is great, but if it proceeds faith, then it does nothing for you. Good works don't save your goal, Jesus does... Good work should stem from your faith, not be the cause of it.

It scary to think that nothing you can do is good enough to warrant you going to heaven, and yet that eternal reward is not a reward at all. It's a gift, freely given, through the cross. What am I saying?

I'm afraid. I want there to be something I can do in order to be a better Christian.... but there isn't anything. If you are unaware, this is coming from the core of the Lutheran theology. I'm not Lutheran, but the theology seems better than some I've been steeped in. The reservations I have when it comes to things is disallowing me to be fully immersed in anything. I want to be in control, but when it comes to the point where I have to relinquish that control I back away. It's all about comfort zone, and I find myself unwilling to see how deep the rabbit hole really goes. It scares me. Still, what am I saying?

I don't know what I'm saying. I had a friend of mine question my last blog (the last half in particular), in that it presents a rather pessimistic view of goals, dreams, and aspirations. I didn't have an answer for him, directly, so I suppose this has been an attempt to clarify, and justify the words I had earlier. These words don't do a lot of justice to anything, because outside of my issues with faith there are a lot of other aspects of my life that need work too. This is just the first step.... Instead of being timid all the time, jump in head first! You never know what you might find at the bottom... you can rest assured though, that there is always death waiting.. everywhere! (Think about it!)

-Andy J. Graves