Last week my friend Haley Brengartner published her essay, Are you there, God? In her words, she wants to believe but her faith is floundering in a “pothole puddle” disconnected from the river of Heaven flowing through her friends. I was reminded of the times I too was looking for sense, substance, and something beautiful to remember Heaven.
When Logic Meets Logos
Maybe the problem is that you are trying to understand a philosophy, instead of trying to get to know a man.
-Andrew Klavan, The Truth and Beauty
One of the many reasons for the Hail Mary is not for the worship of a woman but to remember our Lord came to us as a person. A baby, a boy, a man who had to die a terrible death. For me, it took many years until I realized I had been looking for faith in a philosophy instead of getting to know a person.
This person is my introduction to the Infinite. Before my embrace with Eternity, I was temporary, and this belief infected my treatment of all other beings. Thankfully, the Abundant God became my inspiration for loving.
This is why the Greatest Commandment is not the Golden Rule. Society can not survive if we only treat others as we wish to be treated. Humanity needs a first lover. When I have experienced the extravagant love of friendship it is a reminder our faith is not in a philosophy. This faith is found in a perfect person and there is only one perfect person: Christ Jesus.
When Substance Meets Transcendence
The coming of the Kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say “here it is” or “there it is” because the Kingdom of God is in your midst
- Jesus from Luke 17
I confess I have missed glimpses of Heaven. Miracles have gone by when my eyes were not trained on the Infinite in everyone around me. In my old life, I couldn’t see the beauty in a gathering.
Gratitude gave me the eyes to see God made us a part of the sacred things. Where two or more are gathered there I will be in their midst, Jesus speaks. Heaven isn’t only a destination but inseparable from every second.
Haley, you are surrounded by Christians not by Christian design but by Christ's desire. He has coordinated the cosmos and come alongside you. Heaven is already here.
Streets Like Glass & Gold
When I was facing my mother’s mortality, I returned to my ancestral homeland in Mexico. I needed to face my own beliefs of life, death, and Heaven. I had my own Are you there, God? questions.
God, why would you let the doctors schedule the death of my mother the same week as the birth of my only child?
Walking around La Reforma over the Día De Los Muertos holiday in Mexico City, it began to rain. A firmament of water on the surface of the streets began catching the lights of the city. The Cempasuchil, Mexico's flower of the dead, garnished the sidewalks lending their color to the road as the ebbs and flows began to look like gold. It was like the dream John the Apostle had seen of Heaven.
I told my cousins later that night about the miraculous sight. Of course, they calmly replied. Our devotion is a reminder of the reality of Heaven.
Catching a glimpse of this scene helped me see Eternity is already touching our reality. It was a moment that prepared me to witness my mother walking out of the hospital cancer free.
, when you mentioned your faith floundering in a pothole puddle, all I could remember were the streets of Mexico becoming a river, connecting the pothole puddle souls in glass and gold.God doesn’t just split the seas, He brings the river to you and me.
Until next week,
-Steven
Many have asked how a Mexican got the name Steven Foster, so I wrote the essay that explains how I Changed My Name. And no matter what you believe, I want you to read The Thing About Mary. To all my subscribers, my gratitude for each of you continues to grow. If you have yet to subscribe, use the link below.
Thank you to
, , Derek Wong, Maymie Chan, and for your notes and conversations that helped shape this essay.
Steven when I first met you, I thought we would just be acquaintances. When we became more than acquaintances, I thought our friendship may live in the virtual world. When our friendship broke through the virtual world, I thought it couldn't get better than that. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, you began leading me in my faith journey.
I am profoundly grateful for you. I don't know what to do right now other than thank you with the most sincere thanks I can muster. Okay I am going to go find some tissues now. I love you.
It reads even better than hearing it in person! “God doesn’t just split the seas, He brings the river to you and me.”
Grateful to you Haley for catalyzing this insight and passage from Steven!