Aligned!: Unlocking the DNA of Authentic Faith

By Dennis E. Brown

Aligned! is about discovering faith at its most basic level. For the most part faith is a vague word centered primarily on the ideas of belief or believing. Not only is that the case for the public at large, but unfortunately it is often true of many Christians as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J Merrill Publishing Inc
• Release date: Feb 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781954414051

Book preview

PART 1

AUTHENTIC FAITH

The first section of this book unfolds the layers of authentic faith. The relationship that God designed us to experience with Him is the lens through which the essence of faith is redefined, reorienting us to what Jim Cymbala would call fresh faith.

1

FACING THE STORM: THE TESTING GROUND OF FAITH

Iwoke with a start.  It was a few minutes after 1:00 a.m.

By the time I got to the window, what initially sounded like someone pelting my house with rocks had morphed into a full-fledged pummeling. 

My first thought went to the recent neighborhood pachucos. They had been roaming the streets in our neighborhood of Laredo., Texas.  Off and on for a few weeks, two packs of young men had been facing off on the street where I lived.  There was always a lot of yelling and threats and, on occasion, a brief fistfight. 

But earlier this week, the encounters escalated into a gun battle, a barrage of bullets that lasted about 15 minutes. The next night they showed again, and before anybody had time to start where they had left off, I stepped outside and began shouting for them to leave.  The sight of a young gringo shouting at them in Spanish must have startled them even more than it did me because both groups immediately scurried into the darkness.  Or, it could have been the part about me telling them I had called the police.

But on this particular night, there was no gunfire as I parted my curtains. Instead, large marble-sized hail was covering the ground and beating against my house.  By the time I could throw on a shirt and some pants and run to the front door, ice balls the size of small cantaloupe we bouncing off of my porch, and worse, my car.

All my wife and I could do was stand there helplessly and watch our car take a beating from hailstones that measured four to six inches in diameter.  At the height of the storm, we could not hear ourselves talk.  All we could do was stare into the night, stunned beyond words.

When I saw an insurance adjuster later that week, he took all of 10 seconds to total my car. It looked like the not-so-jolly green giant had taken a colossal-sized ball-peen hammer and vented his anger on my helpless blue Ford Galaxy.  [Oddly enough, however, not a single window was broken or even cracked!  Go figure.]

That was 52 years ago, and over the years, I can only recall about a half dozen storms that were fierce enough to imbed themselves into my memory. Still, that hail storm is close to the top of my list.

Storms are inevitable.  Every life is going to see its share of storms. 

Sometimes we can see them coming; other times, we can’t.  But, ready or not, come they will! 

But face the storms, we must. No one is exempt;

A long-forgotten musical group called Gerry and the Pacemakers recorded this song many years ago:

When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark.

At the end of a storm, there's a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind.  Walk on through the rain

Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart

And you'll never be alone.

This once-popular song presents us with a message that is more blind hope than fact. But, unfortunately, all our best efforts to be hopeful can never guarantee that we will not have to weather the storms alone.

The kind of hope that this song highlights is a long way from authentic faith. But it is a stark example of the natural instinct within the human heart that evidences our inner hunger to reach for a truth beyond ourselves, a truth beyond the boundaries of our natural realm.

The instinct to seek a divine and eternal reality is a powerful inner drive. After all, the sense of eternity that God has placed in the hearts of all humankind makes us vaguely aware that there is something more. The words of such songs and similar expressions of hope may warm our thoughts for a moment. Still, the desire for the companionship of others in life, especially during the storms, is a mere shadow of the greater, eternal reality of our Creator’s presence and His compassion.           

Why begin a book about faith with a focus on storms?  Because the storms in our lives are the testing ground of faith.

Of course, not all storms are the same.

Some may be mere squalls that come and go within the span of a few minutes or hours, maybe even a day or two.  Flat tires, dead batteries, leaky umbrellas, poison ivy, an unkind word, and a thousand other blips on the radar of life – all soon forgotten for the most part, if not altogether.

Others are far more invasive and potentially destructive.  Job insecurity, theft, false accusations, health challenges, financial reversals, personal failures, broken promises, broken dreams, verbal assaults, physical assaults, lawsuits, death, divorce, and the list could go on and on.  Those are the kind of things that can potentially change the course of one’s life.

In Mark 4:37-41, we find Jesus’ disciples facing a storm. The crowd that was listening to Jesus had pressed in around them; so, when Jesus suggested that they sail to the other side of the lake, they readied the boat and set sail.

And while they were mid-trip…

…a furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, Teacher, don’t you care if we drown? He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still! Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!

Don’t kid yourself.  This was no gentle spring rain.  The disciples were afraid, very afraid.  Some of them had spent their lives on the water as commercial fishermen.  Others had lived near the sea, so traveling by boat, even with some rough weather, would not have been a unique experience for any of them.  But this was a storm that filled them with an uncustomary level of fear for their lives.  And they turned to Jesus in their moment of panic. 

Their question to Jesus showed how frightened they really were. They undoubtedly were bailing for all they were worth, and He’s off in a corner sleeping.  In essence, they were saying, What’s wrong with you; we’re going to drown in a few minutes. The least you could do is grab a bucket and bail and maybe give us all a better chance to live. 

One thing we can know for sure. They weren’t turning to him because they had some idea that he would stand up and calm to a storm. Instead, their thoughts were fixed on the only answer they knew: bail harder. But His response had nothing to do with bailing out the boat; rather, He addressed the source of the problem, and the storm was suddenly stilled.

I can hear a whole lot of people thinking that if they had been there, they would have been overwhelmed with joy.   that they would have burst into the familiar chorus:

Faith in God can move a mighty mountain.

Faith can calm the troubled sea.

Faith can make the desert like a fountain.

Faith can bring the victory.

… followed, of course, by the doxology and a seven-fold Amen.

But, as the kids today say so emphatically, NOT!

According to Mark 4:41, these strong, outdoorsy men were terrified! Now, a few minutes earlier, they