Living by FAITH–what is this?  Yesterday I wrote that God is wanting me to stop some old man practices so I can step into living by faith.  This morning’s devotional pieces were all about living in the new life–new creation and that is living by faith.  Paul talks about learning to walk and for the first time I saw myself actually learning to “walk by faith”.  The analogy of a baby first learning to walk is very clear now.  Walking by faith is a skill that isn’t given to us with full operational practice established when the gift is given.

When I was a principal in the school district where I worked I involved our staff in a reading research project that turned our old instructional practices upside down.  We had to totally abandon the schedules we had used, the practices we had used and the materials we used.  We learned different ways to communicate the teaching of reading and what we did to measure the growth of the child’s learning to read and much more.  It was exhaustive and yet, so rewarding.  After several months of this the teachers were saying they never knew they could teach reading so well.  Students and parents were beginning to say they didn’t know reading could be this much fun in these early years.  I write all of this because this is what came to mind this morning when I was picturing learning to walk in faith.  I have walked with some faith for most of my life.  It was all about what I couldn’t control and I’d surrender it to faith believing someday I could do it.

Today God is helping me see that walking by faith is never about my taking control.  It is definitely about my completing work at times but I don’t own that work–God does.  I’m in His ball field now.  When a baby falls, learning to walk, they get right up and go again.  When man falls we beat ourselves up and try not to let others know we did.  I’ve done this all my life.  God is showing me that not only His Team–God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit are here to teach me how to live by Faith, but so are the other believers who want to learn this too.  Just like when my staff was learning to teach differently to get kids to read better and to help all kids read successfully, God is showing me that we learn this together.  Don’t hide mistakes–falls–talk about them so we can build support.  I want to do this and not let pride or shame stop me.  Those two items are part of the old me I don’t want anymore.  Lets be a team.

PS–My wife and I are leaving today to visit two sisters living in S. California.  There is little cell service where they live and I only have internet service at one’s home.  My ability to blog during the next week will be dependent on where I am so if there are absent days, please forgive me.