Reality Check

Great service last night at Quest, detailing missions around the world.

Quest has established partnerships with local churches on the ground in India, and as part of the service last night some of the Quest staffers who've been involved with that or who've visited the missions in India shared their stories. The talks weren't really that long, but were very powerful for me.

These people, especially the ones truly risking everything to plant churches in areas where persecution presents a very real threat, have such a clear understanding of their faith that it's almost intimidating to someone like me who's still in the seeking process. Almost. What I came to realize by the end of the service was that I should see these people as inspirational, rather than intimidating.

That's a roadblock I've run up against in the past in my experiences with hard-core Christians, but I don't think I'd ever understood how to address that until last night. The problem, I think, is that it's so unfortunately rare to find someone carrying the banner of Christianity who's also living it the other six days a week. Quest has demonstrated - does demonstrate - that there are people all around who are more than nominal Christians, and who truly lead lives worthy of imitating.

I suppose I'm still wrestling with skepticism to a degree, but there was no room for skepticism last night as I sat at my desk processing what I'd heard. Rather, I've found I have an increased resolve to tear down whatever remaining walls I've built over the past thirty years so that I can finally and whole-heartedly take the step that people elsewhere in the world have literally died for.