Faith in the Lord is a hell of a thing

These are my words. They have not been generated by an artificial intelligence chatbot. They have not been co-opted by the religious right or the secular left. There is no product placement in this movie. I may deconstruct. I may have a revival. But there is no deconstructionism or revivalism celebrated here. Faith in the Lord is a hell of a thing. It makes things so very clear. It will separate us from our idols. It will keep us from putting hope in things like worldly power and ambition. It will teach us to cherish and build small things. It will teach us to defy self-righteous mobs. It will lead us to the blessing of losing over and over again. It will make us proclaim with the Apostle Paul, “We stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely on only God, who raises the dead.” Trusting God feels like the sound of Bach’s cello suite No. 1 in G Major: it gives us real strength, not in the hope that God might rescue us but that God is perfectly fine with allowing circumstances from which rescue is necessary, so that we can find out that the life of Jesus is evident even in, especially in, our dying bodies. You see, you can live your life in the easy comfort of unbelief or you can go on with God into the messy reality of white hot faith. Do not mistake God as being the person who is going to “bless” you with health and wealth. No, he is the person who is going to save you from your practical atheism, from drowning in the waters of materialism. I know a man who is a mystic, a saint, and for no other reason than he blessed his son, his son who valets cars on the weekends so that he can shape surfboards during the week, his true passion. This mystic spoke over his son, “go become the greatest surfboard shaper that you can be”, knowing full well that he would not be able to earn enough of a living on surfboard building alone BUT that man, that prophet, stood in the face of every god of this Bull Market Age and said “TO HELL WITH YOU, my children will live as artists and servants before their fellow man” and when I heard him say this I could feel salvation coming to my household and all of a sudden I knew that true contentment was possible.

3 comments

Jim Moore
May 29, 2024

I love that line, “my children will live as artists and servants before their fellow man.”

Jaimie
May 29, 2024

What . This resonates 🖤

Craig Britton
May 29, 2024

Andy,
I just “met” you on Kelsi Klembara’s “Outside Ourselves” podcast (YouTube). Brother —isn’t that amazing we can hail one another that way having not met? —thanks for your honesty, depth, fun, your use of the word “hell” in a title, and your very honest smile. The Lord brings all those things out of you because of what He has invested in you. I, like Kelsi, am a Lutheran but through a long road that included many happy and fruitful years in a wonderous Foursquare church in Beaverton, Oregon. Pastored and led by very solid, very bible-cherishing people, I only gained good from life there. Oddly enough, my then pastor had grown up as an LCMS Lutheran. Just where I find myself today.

All that in the mix, I am a 62-year-old dad of two and grandfather of four. I have a great and graceful wife of 41 years and serve a Lutheran congregation in Michigan as an adult staff member going on year 19. A normal, somewhat uneventful life that includes performing as a semi-professional (what does that mean?) brass musician, a love for writing, and a strange love of humor ranging from Jim Gaffigan to the Impractical Jokers. You mentioned Henri Nouwen in your interview and his book on the Prodigal is among my favorites. Thanks for a wonderful interview, for the website, and for sharing not only your gifts, but your walk. You have a new fan. I look forward to delving into your work. God’s peace to you, brother.

Craig Britton
Director of Congregational Care
Redeemer Lutheran Church
Jackson, MI

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