Having Faith

I was trying to explain faith to a man who had no faith.

“How can you believe in something you can’t see?” he asked me.

It was a fair question.

I placed my hand upon my chin like the famous statue, “The Thinker.”

Glancing back and forth, I tapped my foot for a moment. Then turning toward him, I pointed my finger as if about to respond. I stopped and returned my hand to my chin.

He smiled that kind of smile that said, “I’ve stumped you.”

Then looking back I said, “There’s something about the wind.”

He shook his head and said, “What? The wind?”

“Oh, it’s simple enough for me to explain my faith, but first I’ve got to explain yours,” I said.

“I have no faith!” he said.

“Sure you do.”

“Okay, go for it.” he said.

“Do you feel the wind?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“You can’t see it, but you believe it’s there.”

“Ah, but I can feel it.”

“You can feel faith, too.”

“How?”

“Faith was there when I found out both my wife and son had cancer. I felt it in my heart. I touched it when I touched their faces in the last moments before they went into surgery. I couldn’t see it. I could feel it soak deep into my being giving me peace. A peace only a man of faith can have.”

“But that was faith in the doctor. You saw the doctor, you heard him speak. That’s not faith that’s fact.”

“But I had faith in his abilities. My faith told me to trust the man God inspired to be a doctor and all the nurses who found their place in life helping others.”

“That’s not the same.”

“But there’s something about the wind,” I repeated.

“Now we’re back to the wind.”

“See that tree is moving because the wind is moving it, not because it can move on its own. Now, see that older woman sitting on the porch? She sits there on this hot day so that the wind can cool her, but she cannot see it. She was warm, looked outside her window and saw the tree swaying. She knew the tree could not move on its own…it must be the wind.

There’s something about the wind.”

“You keep saying that.”

“I can’t see it, but I know it’s there. If I were a sailor, I could set my sails and know it would take me where I want to go. Without it, I would be on my own. But sailors know the wind just like people of faith know God.

You accept that the wind exists because you can see the tree move, the boat sails bend and it’s touch upon your face.

But there’s something about the wind.”

“There you go again,” he said.

“Explain the wind to me, then,” I asked of him.

He fumbled with his hat. He nervously tapped his fingers on the table and said, “Because I just know.”

“But there’s something about the wind,” I said one more time as I smiled.

He shook his head in frustration.

Placing my hand on his shoulder I said, “My friend, you believe the wind exists because you see the tree move. I believe that God exists because I can see the tree.”