Maybe. Maybe Not.

"And Lord, thank you that there's a chance that Dad's check will come tomorrow. In Jesus' name, Amen."

I've been waiting on a check for some writing work I've done. During this time, I promised my son a new video game when I got paid. He's doing really well in school and reading some difficult books; I'm very proud of him and want to bless him in that way. I had hoped the check would come Friday afternoon, we'd go out to eat as a family and celebrate, and stop in and get his video game on the way home. That's the t.v. version; real life didn't pan out that way. The disappointment was thick when I walked in the door - "no, it didn't come, Dad." "I'm so sorry, Will. Believe me, I'm as disappointed as you, buddy."

I felt our family needed some fresh air, so we did find enough to go out and get something to eat to numb the pain. I asked Will to pray over our Mexican food and he agreed. The quote above was how he finished his picante petition. We managed to avert a total evening disaster and ended up enjoying one another and some enchiladas. But I appreciated his prayer of honesty - thanks that there's a "chance" it'll come tomorrow. His faith was still afloat, verbalized in the word "chance." And isn't that what faith is anyway? Sure, I know the Hebrew definition - unseen...hoped for. For some folks, the word "chance" conjures up gambling or rolling the dice; they'd never use that word in conjunction with the word "faith." But why? There's a chance my check would come today, there's a chance our friend's mother will survive her cancer surgery, there's a chance I may have a steady job soon, there's a chance...And I have faith in every one of those scenarios, but I know they may not turn out as I'd prefer. I fear most of us (I'll take the spot at the head of the line) live with a "chancey faith" in real life; however, we talk and preach about faith in a t.v. version. Do I trust God's heart for me and my son and the fact that I want to bless him with a video game, not to mention groceries for the rest of us? I do.

But my check didn't come today...we took a chance, hoped for the best, prayed for it alongside chips and salsa, and it didn't happen. What'll we do now? Keep on faith-ing it, chancing it? We can talk all we want about knowing "the rest of the story" and go through life as a bunch of smiley Paul Harveys...I think we're gamblers; gambling on God and Jesus and the Bible and miracles that happened God-only-knows-how-long-ago and communion and forgiveness of sin and the kingdom and the power and the glory, amen. The fact that the word "chance" rarely dances with the word "faith" may reveal how scared we really are; we're terrified. We truly work out our salvation with FEAR and TREMBLING.

There's a chance it'll come Monday...