A few years ago, shortly after Christmas, I purchased a book entitled "Growing in Faith." It was really the author's sub-title that first caught my attention: A Guide for the Reluctant Christian."

This was a timely purchase because I was experiencing some symptoms of being a reluctant Christian myself and my spiritual malady had all the markings of a slight 'faith crisis." Serving in the demanding ministry of a diocesan bishop can have its downside. It was one of those times, and we have all had them, when we struggle in really claiming in absolute faith and conviction the biblical promises of God. These are times when we get our eyes fixed on other things and lose sight of Jesus.

Well my investment in David Yount's "Growing in Faith" paid off in numerous ways. It again prompted me to say with Jesus, "Father, not my will but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). I was helped to see again that the Christian faith is indeed a lifelong learning process and as prayer was a high priority in our Lord's life, so it should be with each of us."

Then, as I continued in my reading, I came across this wonderful prayer written by a young Christian who at the time was working as a truck driver in Ghana, North Africa:

Underneath are my bad tyres,

The brakes are unreliable

Unfortunately I have no money

and parts are difficult to get

Lord, I did not overload the truck.

Lord, "Jesus is mine" is written on the vehicle

for without him I would not drive a single mile

The people in the back are relying on me.

They trust me because they see the words: "Jesus is Mine"

Lord, I trust you!

Those simple but profound words of implicit trust in a living Lord expressed by the truck driver greatly softened my heart leading me to a time of repentance and getting back on track with Jesus.

The season of Lent is now upon us and as we all know it is a time in the church's yeare as the Ash Wednesday liturgy so graphically reminds us "To remember our need for repentance and for mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ" (BAS, page 281). Indeed, one of the ways the Holy Spirit acts is by convicting us of our sins, leading us to repentance and forgiveness, and then empowering us to walk the costly path of discipleship.

May we all emerge from our Lenten journey of self-examination, penitence and prayer with a readiness to say from our hearts with the Ghanian truck driver - "Lord, I trust you!"

- Blessings, Bishop Malcolm Harding.

Bishop Malcolm is the ambassador of ARM Canada and was formerly the Episcopal bishop of the diocese of Brandon.

The Rt. Rev. Malcolm Harding
Episcopal Visitor to ARM