Saints Peter and Paul – the steady fisherman and the fiery Pharisee, the devoted disciple and the persecutor-turned-apostle. Every congregation is filled with Peters and Pauls – which one are you?

In Peter we see the Christian who has been raised in the church. Peter has no dramatic conversion experience, no abrupt shift from darkness to light; rather, he has spent a long time in the company of those who follow the Lord, and he has come to know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. Peter’s faith is not dramatic, but it is solid – so much so that our Lord declares that the faith he shows, the acknowledgement that Jesus is the Christ, will be the rock upon which he will build the Church.

Not that the path has always been straight – definitely not! For only moments after he declares his faith, he tries to dissuade Jesus from the way of the Cross, only to be sternly rebuked.

The sun was shining bright and my post-yoga-class limbs were loosened-up for a new day. The better news though, was that while leaving the studio I’d acquired a new mat.

“Finders keepers, losers weepers,” I sung in my head. “So-long $19.99 sucker from Target that always makes me slip.” This new mat is posh and sturdy and made in Malaysia.  My soundtrack was cut-short though, when bragging of the story to my sister Courtney the next day.

“You what!? You took that from the lost and found, Abb…what are you thinking!? That’s somebody else’s mat…good mat…and they’re probably a wreck about losing it.”
“Umm…oh…I…uh, thought you’d be excited. I was thinking that somebody lost something, and I found it, so now it’s mine. Their loss, my gain kinda thing?”

26 years ago today...

My atheistic worldview was interrupted by the God who pursues even those who deny him. 

I was confident that God(s) didn't exist, that he/she/they were constructs of individuals and cultures to stuff in the gaps and calm fears. I considered myself a realist who preferred unanswered questions over fairy tales...

Today, I look back and remember the moment my existence was interrupted. My eyes still burn. 

Today, to deny God's existence, I'd have to first deny my very own.

Today, I still have questions, but now my mind has a Mentor.

Today, I'm savoring the truth that the goal of believing isn't avoiding pain. The goal of all living things is to grow (and multiply). The goal of faith isn't answers. The goal of faith is intimacy. 

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