We walked away from a recent episode of asweunderstandhim.coffee podcast asking ourselves the question; would we be accused, or better yet, be convicted of being Christians based on what others witnessed about us?
Aside from pulling out of our garages and driving to church on a Sunday morning, is there much proof of our commitment to follow, worship and serve the God of the universe?
Early on in our faith walk, we had the opportunity to pull some wisdom from a teenager who compared his spiritual walk to his desire to be identified as a hockey player.
His point was that he could not just call himself a hockey player if he wasn’t. He had to think like a hockey player, dress like a hockey player, practice like a hockey player, and learn the game of hockey. He had to invest in equipment and ice time and connect with those experienced in the game for training.
Further, to call himself a Christian would demand that he think like a Christian and, more importantly, live like a Christian. He would have to learn about the Christian life. He would have to invest time and energy in understanding the faith and then take that faith out into the real world to learn from successes and failures. He would have to connect with those more experienced, leaning on them for teaching and direction.
We laid both concepts side by side and came up with the following short list of actions and activities that worked for us, helping us jump-start our faith journey. Of course, the list is not all-inclusive, but we have found pillars we have built upon over time.
The key for us was not hitting the ice expecting we would be superstars from day one. But, conversely, we were creating the habits that would one day be strengthened that could turn us into that star. Doing little bits daily and developing on those success elements has brought us to a place where we are better today than yesterday – and we mark that as a victory.
Preparation - Spending time in prayer and meditation
We spend much time talking about carving out time for prayer and meditation. We do so because it has become the cornerstone of our why. In these moments, we sense the genuine connection that drives our desire to go deeper and broader.
We used tools like guided meditation, music, and simple silent conversations.
The thing was to get to a point where we could hear ourselves. To get to a point where we could feel our true north. To arrive at a place where we were in line with our purpose.
We didn't give up on this discipline. On the contrary, we build on it daily.
Experience the playbook called the Bible.
Some read some listen, and some watch. Whatever flavor of learning works should become our goal.
The Bible is the playbook for Christians. It is dense and a challenge to comprehend at times. Our goal was not to become theologians or Bible scholars but to develop an understanding and a connection to its guidance for our lives.
There are hundreds of translations of the Bible available both online and offline. In addition, some excellent translations have converted the literal words to plain English. So we found what worked for us and took bites each day – filling our tank with the teachings that align us with the right living and a sense of fulfillment.
Plug into a local church = or find a church online.
We spent plenty of time away from church buildings as the religious turned away the seekers. We understand the church has a bad rap. We know the pain caused by hypocrisy and evil. We are not suggesting that these negative attributes no longer exist. However, we know that we have found forgiveness, acceptance, and nonjudgmental environments that allow us the room to become the person we intended to be.
We have gone to bad restaurants that we would never go to again because of the experience. But that doesn't mean we don’t go to restaurants. We've gotten bad food from the grocery store, but that doesn't mean we don't utilize grocery stores to feed ourselves and our families.
We have been knocked off our skates by bad hockey players. But that doesn't mean that we don't continue to play the game of hockey.
We continue to seek a place to connect with like-minded people and other players in the game of faith.
Multimedia Resources; Review the tapes
Audio, video, and multimedia drive specific learning receptacles, and today’s digital world is a place to flourish. This made the list because so many great resources are available online to dive deeper and support our desire for spiritual growth. RightNowMedia is a library packed with learning guides that we have found relevant and valuable.
Movies like “the passion of Christ” and series productions like “the chosen” have worked to help us understand biblical truths and applications to our own lives.
Connecting with the small group
This is where the rubber meets the road, as they say. This is ice time.
Finding a group of like-minded misfits has proven to be more valuable than words can say. Whether a big group of ten or more or just one or two others, a small group provides support, accountability, and growth opportunities if there is honesty, willingness, and some level of accountability.
For more information and tools that can be used to start or continue a spiritual journey, check out the asweunderstandhim.coffee resource room or let your fingers do the walking and check out searches like:
The bottom line for us is to stay in the arena - to stay in the game - to learn and grow each day. For us, to stagnate is to backslide. And we have come too far toward feeling the connection to risk losing the source of our power and strength.
Thoughts and ideas for this blog post were taken and built upon from asweunderstandhim.coffee podcast #9 “Being a Hockey Player.” The podcast dropped on 5/28/2023. Click here to hear the podcast.
Photo by Tungsten Rising on Unsplash
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