When My Faith Falters...

Time to bare my soul. A line that always yields snickers at church, because the dear people who make up our New Hope family would tell you that I bare my soul every week. Nevertheless, here’s the deal…

There are times when my faith gets feeble, when my faith falters, when my belief system begins to break down, when my carefully constructed theology fails me. A startling admission for a guy who wrote a book entitled, No Doubt About It! That title notwithstanding, there are days when my theological worldview tilts on its axis. Days when nothing I know fits the paradigm of the real world.

Today is just such a day.

Let me be clear. I do not doubt God. I do not doubt His Word. The infrastructure of my faith is in tact. But it’s a story like this one that rocks my world to its core. A story for which I have no satisfactory explanations. A story that keeps me awake at night. A story that causes me to cry out, “Where is God in all of this???”

This from Dan Rather, as posted on his blog of May 18: “Portland, Oregon is without doubt one of the nation's treasures. It has been voted one of the best places to live and work. But according to police, the city and its outlying communities has become a hub for the sexual exploitation of children. In a recent nationwide sting by Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, Portland ranked second in the country for the number of rescued child prostitutes. And according to Doug Justus, the workhorse sergeant in charge of Portland's tiny Vice Detail, many of the children caught up in this are middle class kids from the area.

“The girls, sometimes as young as 12, often 13-16, are lured by a ‘front man’ in his mid-to-late teens. He becomes her ‘boyfriend,’ taking her to dinner, buying her nice things, sometimes meeting her parents. The girl eventually moves in with him. Then he says they need money to continue being together. First, she's enticed to sleep with his friends to pay the rent. Soon she's turning tricks for what police say is an endless supply of older men willing to pay top money for sex with very young girls.”

This in Portland, OR. One hour north of where I live and am sitting right now. One hour away and I am doing nothing to stop it. And don't even know how or what to do to start trying to stop it.

I could just cry.

I have no doubt that God does cry.

Which causes me to cry out on these children’s behalf, “God, why do You let it happen? Why must these children suffer? When will You end it? When will it stop? When will Your justice be served?” And then to cry out on my behalf, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

Now you know what makes my faith falter. How about yours?