It is a Journey

Well I am back to where it all began and gladly in a much different situation. Today was the first meeting on the year of the “Philosophy club”, which is not exactly the very beginning of my struggle but it was when I fully realized there was a struggle. Currently I am back to believing, I have faith and due to both logic but mainly (as C.S. Lewis stressed) experience and trust. So, I am at the stage when I believe/know there is a God and He is the God of the Bible, He is who He is. Now I am at the stage where I want to/need to know God. See that is where the real journey begins, knowing if there is God is really the first step, like knowing where we are going. Knowing God is the journey, or the trip there. For several reasons I fell away from God at a slow pace, and then on one frightening day as I walked through school I realized I there was a problem. I’m learning something new every day; I’m changing every day, that’s what life is all about. 1 John talks about it in detail but I’ll summarize it, sin separates us from God but the journey is to cast off that sin and run towards God. Paul uses the analogy of running a race; imagine that sin is a heavy burden we must carry, Jesus takes that upon Himself so that we may run with open hearts to God’s open arms. About half a year ago I was slowly (yet steadily) taking a wrong turn and I am so grateful that God woke me up to it. Even though I went through all that worrying I am happy (yes happy) that it all happened so that I can be here today. I often heard the analogy of God as a potter; in my school I am taking ceramics (oddly enough I didn’t sign up for it) but to make a pot first I have to take the lump of clay and then knead it into a useful piece, and then I need to smooth it out by running a sharp (unknown tool) along it. Then I dry it until it is fragile and put it in the kiln and fire it so it will be strong. It is a painful process to shape the piece of clay (for the clay, not me) but at the end in my hands is a masterpiece. God shapes us by hand and takes us from where we are in life and works on us to make us a masterpiece, it is a long, hard process, but in the end we are made into something beautiful.