Faith that Amazes Jesus

In Matthew 8:5-10,13 we read about an encounter between Jesus and a centurion, a leader in the Roman army.
As Jesus went into Capurnaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with Him, "Lord, one of my young servants lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain."
Jesus said, "I will come and heal him."
But the officer said, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only say go and they go, or come and they come. "
When Jesus heard this He was amazed. Turning to those who were following Him, he said, "I tell you the truth I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel!"

What an incredible thought- to be able to amaze Jesus Christ! I think far more often I amaze Him at how long it is taking me to learn a lesson- and how stubborn I can be. This is an amazing story of faith that make me think we can examine our hearts and think about if we are living a life of faith and trust in Jesus Christ. If we stumble and find ourselves doubting Christ then we know He has mercy to offer. We must turn away from doubt and sin and run towards a way of right living detailed in the Bible.

Sometimes Stories are Hard to Hear

The impulse is to close our eyes to the hurt around us. The first reaction is to turn the channel, think of something more exciting, or more comfortable. It can be difficult to hear some stories. How do we handle stories that are vastly different from our own? What about when someone voices an opinion drastically different from your own?

Sometimes the best foundation for relationship is just listening, especially when the goal is forming relationships in order to have opportunity to invest in a life- not just preach at someone. One of our main goals at the FireEscape youth ministry is to build relationships with youth, some of whom are unchurched, in order to more meaningfully connect them with Christ.
Some of the subjects of the interviews conducted at the FireEscape expressed opinions that went completely against what I hold to be true. I did not try to interject my faith as I asked students about theirs, but as a result of the interviews conversations arose about God that night. I was able to share some truths about God and Christianity. Here are a few more of the interviews from that night. I'm convinced, in my humble opinion, that there is no room for judging these teens- but that we must ask ourselves if we are doing enough to share Christ's love and message of hope with the people around us who believe much the same way these young people do.


Mia described himself as a transgender. He did not seem nervous and was eager to talk. I asked him,"What do you believe?" He looked around a moment before answering, "I’m not a religious person, I have my own Bible, but I think religion is overrated. Religion can be confusing to me. When I was around 12 years old I really started thinking about faith." He looked at me and said,  "Most of my family is very religious. My Grandma was religious, she had pictures of Jesus and crosses everywhere. If you didn’t believe like she did you were going to hell."Some of his friends were seated there around us, they had also agreed to be interviewed. He said, "I have a few friends that believe in God- they’re not big advocates of their faith."

Scott Wheeles was one of the people sitting there waiting to be interviewed. He was ready to talk without much prompting with questions. He leaned forward in his chair and said, "I don’t believe in anything; I’m an atheist." I asked him how he came to believe that way and he said, "I was thinking too much, came to alot of conclusions to why it just can’t be. I talk about faith alot, I like to argue about it and I’ve been known to stump people in conversations." He began to relate some of his perspectives on why he doesn't believe in God. I could tell that he liked a good argument, but not wanting to be drawn in I asked if he also rejected belief in anything supernatural. He said with conviction, "I’ve had experiences that make me believe in the supernatural but I reject religion." He talked for a moment about his experiences and then I asked about his family's beliefs. He admitted,  "There was a point that I related to the religion of my grandpa. I was a mormon before I became an atheist. I think other religions have similarities to Christianity. I think other Christianity branched off from other religions. I believe they’re all the same- they’re all just changing the rules." I wanted to move on to the other people who had told me they were willing to be interviewed, even though Scott was still willing to talk and argue his point. I'm sure more conversations will come up and I even mentioned to Scott that many of us volunteers would be willing to talk to him more about whether or not God exists, if he wanted to talk more with us.

Do the people around you believe much the same way as the you, or are there major differences? Is it daunting to think about what some of those differences would be if you began talking with others about their faith?

Photo by Kira Stevens

Stories of Faith from the Coffeehouse

Roxy Lathrom allowed me to interview her when she was visiting the FireEscape. I asked her about what she believes and what her family believes.

"My parents and me don’t talk- I don’t know what they believe. I go to youth group with my friend, but she doesn’t really talk about what she believes, she is made to go to church by her parents." 

She was a little fidgety and worried about not having anything to say as we sat in a booth in the coffeehouse, "Maybe God is real," she said, "maybe not. I’ve not had anything good happen to me so-" She paused and I encouraged her and she shared some details about her life with me. Then I asked her if any religion was appealing to her, if she knew of a church she would want to be a part of and she replied by shaking her head, "Sometimes Christians act mean."

I asked her if there were times when she had to make a decision or if she was going through something hard if she thought about faith. She thought for a moment and said, "If I think about faith sometimes it depends on my mood. Sometimes I think about praying when I’m having a bad day, but I don’t know what to say."

Conversations like this are eye opening. It can be hard to begin a conversation, but those I spoke to were very willing to share. I'm so glad Roxy was honest with me and shared her story. Talking with her made me want to be more bold to ask others around me about their story. It made me want to be more open to share my faith in Jesus Christ that gives me hope during my darkest days. I was able to share some encouraging words with Roxy on the night of the interview and I was able to tell her that I would be praying for her.


Photo by Kira Stevens

Your Story Interviews from the FireEscape Coffeehouse

Our story of faith can find us in such low places, sometimes. 

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him! She's a sinner!"

v. 50 And Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." Luke 7:36-39, 50

This woman, known to be a sinner, poured out the expensive and humbled herself completely. Not much is know about the rest of her story of faith, but her faith brought her peace.


Some of the young people visiting the FireEscape Coffeehouse on Friday, February 11 were kind enough to let me ask them questions about what they believe and why. One recurring theme through the interviews was how highly relationship is valued by these high school and college age young people.

Josh McCloskey

I’m a Christian. I believe in God and Jesus. My mom is a Christian- she always talks about Jesus; brings it up when anything happens. She makes sure I believe. Ever since I was a kid its been this way. Busy-ness keeps us out of church. I think about faith before I make decisions. I ask God for a sign to help me make a decision and I believe prayer works.

Chelsea Reeves

I believe in God. He’s the reason for everything. I believe hard in relationship and not religion. I think there is something wrong with every religion, relationships are more important. I believe the Bible says ‘if you love God but not your brother, you are a liar’ I care about people even my enemies. Christians gossip in church, hate is shown against people sometimes. 

When I was younger we didn’t go to church then my grandparents took me alot. Later, in Arkansas I went to lots of church functions. After that it dawned on me that something is wrong with every religion. I feel that Christianity’s biggest problem is gossip.

One thing I hold dear is the saying, ‘why strive to be perfect when you can fall in love with your flaws’ 

Now we’ve started going back to church. I live by Proverbs 17:22 I think it says: 'A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones' and I live by the quote, ‘live for the moment and live for God’. I have an app on my phone that gives me a daily scripture, that’s how I’m memorizing Bible verses.

Tomorrow I'll post more interviews from the FireEscape. What's your story of faith? Why do you believe what you believe?

Musicians' Stories of Faith: Heather Williams and Matthew West

Heather Williams' story is one of her experiencing poverty, neglect, abuse and how she came to know Christ at the age of 18. Click here to watch her video on YouTube.

Matthew West's new album is called The Story of Your Life and is inspired by letters from his fans, telling their stories Click here to read one of the stories of faith.

Share your story of faith in the comments below. Tune in Tuesday to Moments of Grace to listen to a few stories from interviews conducted at the FireEscape.

What's Your Story?

I'm wondering about your story- have you been through some really hard trials lately?

Has God been blessing you incredibly?

Have you been learning about really being grateful for the simple things in your life?

How did you come to follow Christ?

What are some questions you have about faith, God and the Bible?

This week I'll be talking on the Moments of Grace radio show about stories of faith; some from the Bible, some from interviews recently conducted at the FireEscape.  Tune in Monday through Thursday from noon- 4pm on 93.1 KFEX in the Chanute area or listen online by clicking here.


Please share your story of faith in the comments. I would love to hear from you!