Faith is hard.  Perhaps you've heard of the recent passing of Marvin Creamer, who died earlier this week at the age of 104.  A long time professor of geography at Glassboro State College in New York, Creamer is most famous for making a circumnavigation of the globe without map or compass.  How did he do it?  Equipped with an immense and highly precise knowledge of patterns and colors in water and waves, the feel and flow of the wind, and the activity of ocean currents, Creamer was able to use subtleties in such things to detect, at all times, exactly where he was and, trusting in his knowledge, keep going.

     That was the key:  trust.  Creamer trusted in what he knew to see him through. And return safely.  Not that he used religious faith; perhaps he did, but I have no idea.  In his own way, however, Creamer is a picture of faith:  he trusted in what he knew to make his way through what he couldn't fully see.

     Whether one has faith in herself, her family, her abilities, her wealth, or even, gasp, God, faith is faith:  believing and trusting in the fact of goodness when we cannot see.

     It's the hardest thing, yes, but in a capricious and unpredictable world, it's the only thing.  Especially if there is a God.

     For if there is not, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.