I Wander as I Wonder - the Search for Community

Written by Rick Howerton

I am a wanderer. We all are. Some have acknowledged it, some have not. But all of us, due to the human condition and situation, are wanderers. We wander into the strangest and most dangerous of places. Sometimes we knowingly wander in. Other times we are forced to wander into worlds we would have never entered.

We wander into broken relationships. We wander into the effects of unhealthy relationships. We wander into financial crisis. We wander into sin. We wander into illness (not of our own doing).  We wander into parenting difficult children. We wander into parenting our own parents. We are all wanderers.

I am a wonderer. Most of us are. Our wandering drives us to wonder. It is in the curiosity that faith shows up.

I wonder if Jesus will do what He said He would do. "... if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22, Holman CSB). Then faith shows up.

I wonder if I believe, and wonder if I really mean it when I ask God to move the mountains in my life. "Have faith in God. I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for - believe that you have received, and you will have them." (Mark 11:22-24). Then faith shows up.

I wonder, if I ask with a pure motive will I receive what I'm requesting? "You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don't receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure." (James 4:2-3). Then faith shows up.

But sometimes faith doesn't show up even in my curiosity. This is why we must wander and wonder with our small group or Sunday School class. When my private wondering doesn't produce faith, someone with a gift of faith reminds me of God's purposes and power. Someone else who has already survived a similar situation is the visible reminder that there is a future. Then someone with more biblical knowledge than I possess points out the massive number of times God produced a miracle on behalf of one of His own (Hebrews 11).

And oftentimes all my wandering, wondering, curiosity, words from those gifted with faith, persons who have survived the situation I'm presently in, and biblical knowledge doesn't produce the outcome I have begged God for. It is in those times I need someone to be there with me and for me. And so I wander into the arms of my Sunday School class or small group.

If we are going to survive and thrive we must wander and wonder with a community of Jesus' followers.

About Rick Howerton

Rick works in Leadership Traning and Events at LifeWay Christian Resources, traveling around the country to teach churches how to build small-group ministries. He is founding pastor of The Bridge Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and author of Destination: Community - A Small-Group Ministry Manual from Serendipity House. He and his wife, Julie, make their home in Franklin, Tennessee.

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