Mark
I’ve always been involved with church. I went every Sunday, joined the Sunday School, was Baptised and Confirmed along with all the other young people. As a teenager I went on a camping holiday with Scripture Union and encountered people who really believed God meant something. These folks lived lives that were different from others I observed. On this camp I read the book “The Cross and the Switchblade” which told stories of how people who lived in really harsh conditions found a value and love. Since then I have tried to live as good a life as I can while trusting that God will pick up the pieces when I muck it up, which I do, frequently!
In the 30 plus years since I went on that camp I have continued going to church – not because I’m made to but because I want to. Sometimes I don’t want to go but I persevere. Sometimes I feel frustrated with the way things are or the people I share the space with but I just assume that other people feel the same way sometimes (they probably even feel frustrated with me). God calls us to love our neighbour and I am relieved at this because I am someones neighbour. I don’t have it all together, I still make mistakes but for over 30 years I have tried to live each day as best as I can.
Rob
My story of faith is one that may be common to many of us. I gave up on church, but not entirely on God, at the age of 16. I had the usual reasons for dropping out! However, I never felt that God entirely let go of me. I would take him out of the box when I was worried, sad or felt I needed some divine intervention. I would then hastily put God back in the box before he challenged me very much.
At the age of 21 I realised that there was a large, God-shaped hole in my life and that I no longer wanted to know God simply on my own terms. That decision to follow Jesus (the man in whom we can really know God) has shaped me ever since. It’s not an easy journey. Like anyone, I have doubts and struggles and I don’t like the challenges faith gives me sometimes, but the Christian journey gives rootedness, meaning and joy to life because it puts us in a relationship with the one who made us and loves us.
A wise person once wrote this. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” I also find in Jesus Christ a completely compelling person, full of love, grace and truth – someone who welcomed all people and turned the world upside down and continues to do that today.