Samba sat in the middle of the circle, feeling every eye fixed on him. Some in his family watched with disgust, others with unbelief, and some seethed with anger. For the last time, his father asked him: "Are you going to renounce that faith?" Silently, he raised his head and looked at his family. "No, I cannot renounce the Truth."

The choice between singing and everything else crystallized for Brad Garvin when he was in high school in the Chicago area. He was in the band, the choir, and on the basketball team. "I got kicked off the basketball team for making the all-state choir," he says, laughing. "I knew music would always be a substantial part of my life. But I still love sports!"

The Early Church fathers understood Jesus' prayer that "all of them may be one . . . that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:21) would be fulfilled in "visible" unity for His Church. Any split was viewed as a grave breach against the Body of Christ. This belief essentially prevailed until the 11th century.

Some time ago, blazing fires torched expensive homes in the Malibu hills of California. After the melee, victims stepped forward to harshly criticize, of all people, the fire department.

Why? Firefighters ceased spraying water on homes having any trace of fire. Considering such structures doomed, they dropped back to "uncompromised areas."

A cute newspaper cartoon caught my eye several years ago that illustrated an important reminder. It pictured two contestants competing on a television game show. Ted, contestant #1, could not hit his buzzer quickly enough to answer a single trivia question. His opponent always buzzed in first and answered the last 200 questions correctly. His opponent? God. Makes sense—God knows infinitely more than Ted or any of the rest of us will ever know!

I take the Bible seriously.

Society has shifted and changed to accommodate the size and preferences of each generation in its own time. What changes are on the horizon as the baby boomers grow older and, along with other generations, exert their influence?

If the changes that have taken place thus far are the equivalent of small ripples, the alterations to come are of giant wave proportions. Three giant waves are already on the way. We need not wait for the elephants to run.

Nazoomers

Raised as a Jehovah's Witness, I ran from this religion when I went to college in 1969. I became a hippie, experimenting with everything—alcohol, drugs, and sex. Then in 1979, I gave my heart to Jesus. I was so excited I told everyone how He had changed my life and could change theirs. I started learning how to effectively share my faith at home with my six kids. Then I started telling their friends—the neighborhood kids who filled our backyard, our skateboard ramp, and our trampoline—about Jesus.

One Sunday afternoon many years ago, my wife and I asked our sons what they learned in Sunday School. With great animation they recited what their teacher had humorously said during Sunday School: “Dude, man, you got to have faith!” That has become one of our favorite sayings.

Faith. It is scattered throughout the pages of Scripture. We believe it. We have it. And yet we often struggle to understand exactly what faith is. Since we are called to live by faith, it stands to reason that we should have a working definition to guide us along the way.

Irving "Doc" Laird and his wife, Beverly, reside in Nampa, Idaho, near Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) where he taught religious education and special ministries for 30 years.