Practice Makes Better (10/16/2025)

Last night I had the privilege of working with several teens preparing for the reception of Confirmation. Midway through last night’s class, I explained to them that it was time they began to practice standing for what they believe and defending their belief, their faith. As confirmed Christians they will be anointed to be witnesses in the world.

So, we did an activity where I asked them to choose between two options of faith and defend their positions. I was very impressed by these 10^th graders. They were quite articulate. They were quite genuine. I look forward to future exercises such as these as we work together through this year of preparation.

Then we spent some time talking about learning Christ, not just learning about Him, but learning Him through a relationship with Him. And we spoke of loving Christ more and more as we learn Him and come to appreciate more and more the depth of His love and the wonder of His redemptive act upon the cross of Calvary. Finally, we spoke of living Christ which is only possible when we have learned Christ and loved Christ. Those two first steps, if we take it seriously and truly engage our Savior, compel us to want to live Christ daily.

As I ended my day on my porch in reflection of the time with the youth and reflecting on my own journey in Christ, I thought of the times I was called upon to witness to Christ and to “the way and the truth and the life”.  And I prayed to the LORD with all my might that I might give witness to these young people, a witness they deserve. I prayed for the strength  to stand for what I believe and to defend it before these young people.

We who call ourselves His, Christians, are called to witness day in and day out. We are called to learn Christ, to love Christ and to live Christ. We are called to stand firm in our faith and to be willing to defend our faith. And we are called to do it with loving resolve.

Would we adults have the courage of these youth to take a stand for our faith? Would we be able to articulate our faith and why we believe what we believe and do what we do?

As I told the youth tonight: “We call it practicing our faith because it takes practice. So, let’s practice.”

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.