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Hi. Many people think that faith means having

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all the answers. I used to think something like

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that myself, that faith and certainty were closely

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connected, that if I could just find enough answers,

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enough evidence, enough understanding, then I

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would finally arrive. But over time, I've come

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to see faith differently. When I read the Bible,

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I do not see a collection of people who have

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everything figured out. I see people on journeys.

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One of my favorite examples is Abraham. God takes

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Abraham outside and asks him to look up at the

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night sky. And then God says, count the stars,

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if indeed you can count them. Well, of course,

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Abraham could not count them. There were too

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many. But the point was not arithmetic. The point

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was imagination. God was inviting Abraham to

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consider a future larger than he currently could

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see. A future beyond his experience, beyond his

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circumstances, beyond what seemed possible. And

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I've always found that fascinating. Faith begins

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with curiosity. What if God is doing something

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bigger than I realize? What if the future holds

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possibilities I cannot yet see? What if my current

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understanding is only part of a much larger story?

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Author Peter Enns writes about this, and he calls

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the sin of certainty. The point is not that truth

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doesn't matter. His point is that certainty can

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sometimes become a substitute for trust. That

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distinction has transformed my thinking. Trust

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and certainty are not the same thing. Certainty

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says, I know exactly how this will turn out.

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Trust says, I am willing to keep walking. Now,

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it may seem like a surprise, but mathematics

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has truly helped me understand this. If you think

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about it, numbers are abstract. You cannot hold

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the number three in your hand. You cannot point

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to infinity. And you cannot see a function walking

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down the street. And yet, I have no trouble believing

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these things are real. And it's not because I

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can touch them, but because I can see their effects.

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I can see the patterns they create. And I can

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see how they help make sense of the world. For

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me, That has been a helpful way to think about

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God. God is not an object that can be placed

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under a microscope. And yet, I see traces of

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God in beauty, in love, in truth, even transformation.

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Mathematics has taught me that something can

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be abstract and real. And that has helped me

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remain open to a God who is beyond my ability

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to fully understand. And maybe that's one reason

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faith and curiosity belong together. Both require

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us to look beyond what is immediately visible.

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Both invite us to imagine possibilities beyond

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our current understanding. And both remind us

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that the story is not finished. And maybe that

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is why God asked Abraham to look at the stars.

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Not so that he could count them. but so that

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he could imagine a future larger than himself.

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Perhaps faith still begins the same way, by looking

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beyond what we can see and remaining curious

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about what might still be possible.