Faith in America: Nikki Lorenzini

Faith is one of the trickiest things out there. You either have it or you don’t. Well, we all have some sort of faith. You have faith that the chair you are sitting in won’t collapse. You have faith that your computer won’t crash, that your bus will show up on time, and that your car will run. Every day, we put our faith in these silly man made things, which we all know will ultimately fail us. Cars will break down, chairs will break, and computers will crash. In my present and former church, when they talked about faith, they always used the example, “You have faith that your pew will hold you up.” Well, the pews in our church are 100 years old, and about a month ago, one broke during service.

Faith is so much more than just believing a chair will hold us up when we sit. When I became a Christian about four years ago, I remember reading in the Bible that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Growing up, I had no clue what this meant. I grew up a shy Catholic, believing everything that I was told. I never really read the Bible. I never got into Mass. Even though I am no longer a practicing Catholic, I still have respect for their reverence during Mass. I felt lost and alone, and I felt like I had no place. So one of my former coworkers invited me to her church, and for once I found what I was looking for. I found that there was a God out there that really did care and who - I finally figured out - I could and should put my trust in Him.

Yes, my faith does lie in Christianity. I do believe that there is a God, and that He did send His Son to die for me. I understand why there are people out there who find it extremely hard to place any faith in God. This world is crazy. People are getting killed, raped, robbed, and abused. On the surface, there seems to be absolutely no reason to believe, but God gave us free will to believe or not to believe. I am at the point where I believe that the people who are committing these horrible acts are so completely lost in their own way that they have no clue where to turn. As a culture, we tend to believe that we can do things on our own and that we do not need anyone’s help, and if we show people we do need help, it is a sign of weakness.

Now, please don’t get me wrong, many Christians do not make it any easier for non-Christians to love God. I remember hearing a quote from Gandhi saying that he would have believed in God if it wasn’t for Christians. Ouch. know that it says in the Bible that we are called first to love God, then our neighbors as we would love ourselves. It says NOT to judge, for however we judge others we will also be judged. So, I apologize if anyone was offended and felt judged by any Christian. I have been judged by people in my own church life and it was not fun. I pray every day that I do not act like that. It’s a struggle

All I know is my own journey with my faith.

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