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It’s time for a little update, not much, but I am no longer new to blogging. I have been at it a few years. Not that I have gained any particular stature. I simply can’t claim to be new at it. I still write as part of my profession, but blogging is more interesting. Blogging is my way of sharpening ideas and fleshing them out. It’s a journey, and I know I don’t always “get it right”, but I take it seriously.

I have been on a journey for truth since I emerged from the haze and confusion of adolescence, much of it self-induced. Stepping out of that myopic existence I began to get an inkling that a world of truth lay in front of me to encounter, and so I set off. I didn’t realize, then, how much faith is required to seek truth.

I have become fascinated with the intersection of science and faith. I have never believed, even before I was a “believer”, that science could build a ladder to God. God, if He exists, must exist beyond our ken. How could we know Him unless He made Himself known?

I encountered the living god, through Jesus Christ in college after some time looking for truth in myself, philosophy and in world religions. I really didn’t expect to find what I was looking for so close to my roots. By “roots” I simply mean “Christianity”. I figured I needed to look in more exotic places.

I was raised Catholic, but Catholicism for me was just part of who my family was, like being French and German. It was just what we did as a family, part of our culture, an obligatory ritual of life that held very little meaning for me. My parents were devout, involved in the church and faithful to attend mass on Sunday. They still are.

I learned much from the example of my parents, but something was missing for me. They gave me a solid foundation, from which to make my way in life, but making my way was fraught with struggle.

My encounter with God was not just an event. I didn’t get knocked to the ground or hear voices. God met me on my journey. He saw me coming a long way off. Looking back, I see the signposts leading the way, but it was far from evident to me as I trudged forward.

I have also wandered far off the path at times. For a long time, I left the journey of faith for the pursuit of wealth (at least “enough” to be comfortable) and comfort. I have found that wealth and comfort are obstacles to what I have been looking for all along, and the pursuit of them led to anxiety and worry.

As with U2, I still haven’t found what I am looking for, but I know that I am back on the right path. I also know that I won’t find “it”, ultimately, until the journey through this life ends. What I am looking for isn’t a thing, either, but a Person – the One who created me and this universe we live in.

Some of what I write is an homage to those signposts I see when I look back. Themes have emerged over the years, and they continue to form, evolve, and expand. My writing is a reflection of the daily and ongoing journey.

I won’t be shy about the faith that has come to define me, but I may not always sound (or read) like a doctrinal expositor. I am no erudite theologian. I won’t be afraid to venture to the edges of doctrinal orthodoxy (as if God could be boxed into our finite limitations) but I am committed to hold on the anchor remain on the foundation, which is Christ, and Him crucified.

I am confident that truth is truth, and truth by definition is exclusive. I don’t claim to have a monopoly on it, but I know that truth doesn’t behind to me. I must bend to it.

I won’t be apologetic, though I often don an apologist’s hat, exploring the edges between belief and unbelief. I want to be pliable, sensitive to the Spirit, who is life, and in harmony with Truth, wherever it may be found.

I believe that Anselm had the right focus when he said, “And I do not seek to understand that I may believe but believe that I might understand.” I think we give ourselves too much credit when we say that we have come to our positions purely through rational effort. I believe Jonathan Haidt is right that we tend to reach our ultimate conclusions at a gut level and use our reason to defend them. that means all of us – theist and atheist alike.

In that sense, faith is a gut level thing. Unbelief also. I heartily believe that we should challenge our faith (and our skepticism equally) – or at least be honest about it – and seek to understand the other view. My hope in this blog is to help the unbeliever to understand a position of faith and to help believers challenge assumptions that may be suspect. Whether any minds are changed is not up to me.

I hope that you will feel comfortable jumping in and adding your own comments. I am not looking for debate here, but I hope to connect with fellow journeyers. We don’t have to agree. We may be heading in the same direction or in different directions, but we are all fellow journeyers in this life as we know it.