maxresdefaultWhen Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! … Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” Matthew 8:10-13 (NETFull)#

Traveling through rural Pakistan we passed bleak communities lacking any sign of women or children. The Muslims considered it indecent for women to be seen in public so only men sat in clusters or roamed about. Oh the darkness that prevails when humans try to fight evil with their own concocted devices.

Then we arrived at an all Christian village—an island of joy in a sea of repression. I stood on the flat church rooftop and watched yellow, blue, and red kites dance above the mud-coated houses. The ladies inhaled outdoor life, girls ran and giggled, and the boys happily made kites. High over a people freed of their sins flew colorful expressions of a blessed faith.

Faith is the wind that lifts us from the ground. Without faith, my life is grounded on an expiring planet. I was not made to lie on my face but to soar into heavenly adventures, to dance above the common and the temporal. Faith is the only medium that can lift me into the life that God has for me.

Unanchored faith will not do. A kite carried off by the wind will flail and snag in the trees. It must be guided by a flyer with string. Just so, even the strongest of faiths will crash me into hell if it is not attached to Jesus by the string of biblical truth. Faith blows as Jesus anchors me and the result is the soaring life my Pakistani friends celebrated.

Prayer: Mighty Lord, fly me above the world’s pablum.