Faith

Faith is a word usually consigned to religion, often western.  The definition, belief in one thing based on something else, applies to any situation.  Yet, we dislike anything between a goal and ourselves.  I can trust but I cannot have faith.  Faith has, with at least three parties, more risk!  Faith cannot be proven.  It cannot be absolute.  Faith sits just beyond reach.
I find that faith is practiced less and less.  If I look at my life, I find myself moving into situations I can trust because I have personally verified and have history to lean on.  I talk about faith without having to tangibly demonstrate that I have any! 
Circumstances in life are driving me into a position where I can no longer do this, at least on one occasion.  Even as I try to write about it, I realize that the particulars are trivial compared to what is at stake in any given moment in life!  We, nobody else, determine the God/god we wrap our arms around.  We tell this story with every conversation, decision, and action – even or especially when nobody is watching.  Our lives pivot on the moment we are in, even as we wallow in the past or escape into our mind's imaginary future.  Everything is a stake.  Fortunately, we live in a world filled with more mercy than we imagine.
In the near future, I will be asked to trust another to be God's healing hands.  While this child of God's statistics are very good, it will still be an act of faith if I agree.  Even as I wonder about my path, I know I have heard God's invitation to step out in faith.  I find myself following an old example of how to handle God's instructions.  “As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two servants and one particularly devout soldier from the guard.  He went over with them in great detail everything that had just happened, and then sent them off to Joppa.”  (Acts 10.7, 8)
Invitations to exercise faith come with each dawn.