Where is your faith?

Yesterday, Wednesday 28 of March 2007, during the whole morning I was nervous. Why? Wednesday has become the day of visiting the Army recruiter to get taped to measure the body fat percentage. The last several weeks that I had visited it has been "bad news." It was getting frustrating to be told that I haven't gotten under the 24%.

So, in order to deal with the anxiety I decided to play the mp3 Bible on my laptop and listen to the scriptures. Of course, I am looking for inspiration and encouragement, instead I get a gentle rebuke. I was listening to the portion of the Gospel of Luke that the disciples ask Jesus why they weren't able to cast an evil spirit out of a young boy. Jesus replied, "You of little faith." BOOM! Not just for the disciples but also for me. I was faced with the question, "Where is your faith?"

I was facing the truth that I have been trying to accomplish the will of God through my own strength. A good reminder that I can never fulfill the will of God apart from believing and trusting the Living God to empower me through His Spirit, who was given to all Christians through Jesus Christ. So, I said a prayer of repentence, asking the Lord to forgive me for not trusting and having faith in His faithfulness and power to fulfill His perfect will. I called upon my wife and kids to pray that today there would be a breakthrough. Our combined faith that this time around I would meet the physical requirement was sealed with a family prayer.

At the recruiting station, the doors to the center were open but the office to the Army recruiter was closed. It was already 4 pm, so I thought that they were closed for the day. While sitting in my car and talking to my wife on the cell phone in the parking lot of the recruiter's station and telling her that the office was closed, a mini-van pulled up right next to my car; it was Sgt. Taylor (the recruiter). "Praise the Lord," I told my wife. The recruiter enters the station and I follow right behind him. He already knows why I am there, so when he was all settled in he pulled out the tape. The first thing he measures is my waist (the trouble area). As he wraps the tape around my waist I am praying and trusting the Lord for a breakthrough. A moment of silence as he looks to see the measurement and then he says, "You're...you are 38 and a half." I was about to rejoice but then he started checking my neck size. Checking the neck size is just as important because the neck size can skew the whole formula. Having a waist size of 38.5 inches means nothing if my neck size is less than 17 inches; if would place me above the 24%. The verdict, my neck was 17 inches. These numbers placed me at 23.36%. I passed! My chaplain recruiter was excited about the news as well. Another breakthrough!

Time to move to the next phase: MEPS. MEPS stands for Military Entrance Processing Station. This is when I get a physical to determine if my overall body will meet and pass the Army standard for chaplains. This will soon be scheduled for next week. The chaplain recruiter will let me know when the examination date is set.

What about my faith? It will always boil down to trusting the Lord my God to walk with me and to be the one who makes the breakthroughs happen. I am renewed again to trust in the Living God for the impossible. He who has called me will also equip me.

Are you ready for a breakthrough?