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"Faith can move a mountain." Faith is a big part of my life. and Yes, I am Christian. To some people, when you say the word "Faith" they immediately think "Religion". I have found in life there is a drastic and distinct difference between "Religion" and "Faith." Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, if you do not understand this, you really need to. I would be happy to sit with you, NO PRESSURE, and chat and help you to understand the difference. "Religion" is following the rules and simply doing what you have been taught, to repetition. "Faith" is a decision and the willingness to follow the directions or instructions given to your heart, even when the instructions do not make any sense to anyone else. It is possible to be deeply religious without having or even understanding Faith. However you may not be religious at all, but constantly live your life through Faith. Faith is only ever proven to exist when you actually exercise it and things work out the way you felt they would, deep inside. And that, "wow" feeling afterwards, is the only point that you will start to truly understand Faith. The opportunity to listen to or exercise Faith rarely comes from some loud boisterous event, flashing billboard or even hundreds of others telling you what you should do. The message of Faith or the opportunity to exercise it is often delivered in a quiet hush, a whisper into your heart. The message, objective and assignment is intended solely for you. It is like being in a silent room and dropping something very small on the floor. You may not have seen where it went, and you barely heard it. But you follow the sound of what you believe and you find it. Many times the biggest obstacle of Faith is simply paying attention enough to hear the instructions provided. Too many times opportunities of a faithful act are simply ignored or dismissed with all the other background noise and clutter of our daily lives. Take the time to listen. I was raised Catholic. I spent 12 years in catholic school. During those 12 years I attended church and saw repetition, but no one ever explained faith. My first real experience with Faith was about 11th grade. It came as this deep down burning feeling in my heart and in my head that I knew something special was in my design, but no one understood me. I heard and felt it just as plain as day, "Curtis, this is what you are designed to do." I found it almost impossible to express. I just knew, without any doubt whatsoever, that my life would unfold in a certain way even though everyone else around me, with their good intentions, tried to tell me I was wrong. it was sooooo frustrating. The issue ? College. I knew that I was not going to go to college after high school. I knew that I would have no need or use for it. I knew without any doubt I was already on the path that God had designed for me. But, As I was in a private, college prep high school, that made absolute zero sense to anyone else. Against everyone's advice, I never attempted to enroll in a regular college. Instead, 2 months after high school I found a specialty computer training course I was interested in. 6 months after high school I was employed as a computer programmer writing software for the Veterans Administration (VA) medical centers and Dow Chemical. I had my own office by the time I was 19. For the past 20 years I have been writing software, I have taught myself 7 computer languages and was self employed for 13 of the past 20 years. My total annual income is approaching $100,000 per year. I never attended college. ------------------ I often do not go inside a church for months, however my Faith IS based on Christianity. I live my life by example and exercise my faith daily. I attempt to listen to the whispers of instructions given to my heart and follow through with them. That is how I ended up living in Hawaii. When God puts something in front of you, when He puts something into you, an idea or inspiration and you are prepared and willing to exercise your faith to follow it, nothing can slow you down. Even obstacles, even significant ones, become stepping stones when you understand how they play into the grand scheme of things. Like getting fired from a crappy job in Indiana, can present as a significant obstacle. That is, until you are offered a better job In Hawaii at a higher pay. If you never got fired, you would have never applied to that new better job. BTW... God will always counter balance all injustices done. Strong Faith = No Stress Living in Faith can also completely reduce the amount of stress in your life. All the time I see ads in the paper "Must be able to work under stress" WHY ? Stress kills. Many forms of stress are brought on as a result of "Worry." Worrying about your deadlines, worrying about your car, worrying about work, worrying about so many things that are completely out of your control anyway. Faith teaches you not to worry about the things you can not control. Faith teaches you there is a difference between worry and concern. "Worry" is an extreme emotion and induces stress. "Concern" is a logical view of the situation and developing a plan to deal with it. If you would like to discuss this topic, need some advice or would like to find out more about Faith, God or Christianity, It would be my pleasure to sit with you over coffee or dinner and talk with you. Drop me a line. |
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