Another one about Faith

This is a follow up of my New Years post. :)

There's this guy I know.

His name isn't Sam, but I'll call him that.

Sam goes to Tehillah. I see him quite often there, although I've maybe only conversed with him two or three times.

He seems like the sweetest guy.

Sam can't walk. He rolls down the aisle in his wheel chair, and I see him repeatedly ram his front wheels into the stage during worship.

It looks to me, but maybe I'm wrong, like a frustration and pleading with God.

The other day, I sat in the second row of the church that's grown to be a "home" to me.

The front row was empty, and like usual, there he was in his chair about a meter in front of me.

As soon as pastor Michael started playing The Lost Are Found, I knew "that line" was coming and I started choking and couldn't force my voice to sing any further into the song. So I just watched. I watched Sam.

The lost are found

The blind will see

The lame will walk

And just as these words were sung, he raised both of his hands in one, beautiful action of faith.

I didn't see what happened next because my eyes filled with tears, but I know the words that came.

The dead will live

And You, our God - forever You will reign.

I didn't know what to feel in that moment. Sam, to me then, was the bravest and most faithful man I've ever met.

And I didn't know how to feel because if you would have asked me if I believed that the lost can be found, I would have answered yes.

Is it possible for the blind to see? Yes.

Can Jesus make the lame walk? Yes.

Can the God who raised Jesus from the dead raise others? Yes.

I remember someone once telling me that these were things I could only "think" I believed. And until I was put in a harder situation, I would never *really* know whether or not I truly believed them.

I returned that if that were true, I hoped God would strike me down with a terrible illness or cause me to get injured in some way. And I don't say that lightly.

But then how can the man sitting in a wheel chair, unable to walk...

Have faith that I can only stand in awe of? He can't even walk himself, yet he fully believes that God could make him walk.

I think that's what this verse is for: I believe; help my unbelief.

God can fill me with faith no matter what my situation is or isn't.

Faith doesn't vary with your situation.

I'm standing behind him... Able to walk, able to see... And I'm alive. You'd think in this scenario, I have the "easier" job. Yet I choked on the words that he raises his hands in surrender to.

Pastor Michael spontaneously started to sing, "we believe, God, help our unbelief."

And went back to the chorus.

The lost are found, the blind will see, the lame will walk, the dead will live.

You, our God, forever You will reign.

"I believe; help my unbelief."