April 2016 Broniste Family Update

Faith Beyond Profession

By Chris Broniste

Those who know me the best know that I do not typically subscribe to the Christian concept of the 11th hour. I have found in my own life that although God works within time He rarely works according to it, at least not in the way that we are accustomed to. He works according to His own nature & will which are perfect. And this creates a problem for those of us who are finite and imperfect, who are constrained by the realities of time and space and the demands of ordinary life. 

When we pray for example for a felt need (a place to live perhaps or a job that will provide for our family), as finite beings we cannot help but pray with the sort of urgency or anxiousness of those who are uncertain, those who question the goodness of the one they are asking. Because the truth is in those moments, moments of profound personal crisis & need, we really do feel uncertain and we really do question the goodness of the one we are asking, even though we have little reason to do so, which brings me back to the so called 11th hr. You see I don't think God waits until the 11th hr to accomplish His will. I think He waits as long as it takes to bring us to the point of seeing ourselves for who we really are and who He really is in spite of our unbelief. He waits until we see how we really view Him in spite of our great professions of faith. He waits until we cannot keep up the act any longer of trying to believe on our own. He waits until we are honest with ourselves and others. And then He goes to work. 

You see God is not interested in the journey or the destination. He is interested in us. He wants to free us, from the tyranny of time, the bondage of stuff, the fear of the unknown or the preoccupation with our selves. But you know what? He wants to do even more than that. He wants to free us from our broken human perception of His love, His Son and the gospel. He wants to set us free from the bondage of our performancism, our ritualism, our idolatry and apathy. And how does He go about doing that you might ask. Well, the simple answer is, He leads us to the place of needing Him to such an extent that no one else can help us. 

It is there that He begins to expose us for what we are, so He can begin the work of saving us from the delusions we labor under: delusions of grandeur, of false humility, of self centered service, and false professions of faith or zeal, what Jeff VanVonderen calls the curseful living. Basically He loves us too much to let us live in bondage to our own self deception & dishonesty. So He leads us to the place of seeing ourselves for what we are, to liberate us from the lies we tell ourselves & others, to make us ministers of the true Liberty of the gospel for the benefit of other captives like ourselves, which brings me back to our motel room in SE Everett & my own little crisis of faith. 

You see I wrote this nice little treatise on walking by faith in uncertainty last month and I talked a mean little talk about the will of God. But when it came time to actually practice what I had preached in my everyday life, to actually trust in the face of endless disappointment, I failed miserably. That's because I put my trust in my own ability to believe, to muster up the faith to move forward in difficulty. I failed to reckon with my own brokenness and frailty before God, my need for His endless grace. And He loved me too much to let me keep it up. So when my own best efforts had failed me & I could find no way out, I did what I always do, what I do best. I ran. I ran to the comfort & lies of this world. And I hid in the darkness of unbelief. I chided God for leading us to this place of impossibility. I questioned His goodness and motivation for leading us here. I prayed angry doubting prayers and I shut people out. But God wouldn't have it because He loves me too much. 

First, He surrounded me with community, putting person after person in my life to direct me back. Then He pursued me through my wife, our kids & even the new pastor until I started to quake under the burdening reality that I have never actually confronted my own brokenness let alone in a community of people who love me. Sure I've talked about my past, blamed others for why it happened and even tried to fix it myself. But I never actually confronted the reality that maybe I am really broken beyond repair, that someone other than myself must fix the mess that I have made. And you know it's funny. That's how I first came to Christ as a youth. And God apparently saw fit to bring me back again almost 18 yrs later because He knew it would lead me back to Him. And wouldn't you know it, it did. 

Slowly almost imperceptibly the Holy Spirit began to do His work in me, leading me back to the place of a real childlike trust. Of course it wasn't instant tea. It wasn't overnight. But little by little He brought me back. A long forgotten song by Keith Green came to mind. Dust to Dust. Classic lyrics. The remembrance of a promise. The faithfulness of God in the past. The perseverance of my wife in the now. The fact that we are in this together. I could go on. But the point is I had to lose my faith to see how brittle and unreliable it was, to see it wasn't rooted in Christ or the gospel of my salvation. I had to see that there is no better place than trusting in the One who made me and saved me for Himself, who led my family to this new and difficult place, who will see us through. 

I had to see that everything in this life is temporary, that even if I get a job that pays enough and get our family out of this motel it doesn't really matter. Because life is about more than living. It is about knowing the One who saved us. It's about resting in His promises as those who don't deserve them. It's about living in the liberty of seeing ourselves for what we really are and being ok with it because He is ok with it. He made us for Himself. And He delights in our contentment with Him. My family & I had to be led to this place of impossibility to see that and accept it. No other place would do. No other trial would be sufficient to accomplish as much. 

So why is this update called Faith beyond profession you might ask. It is simple really. We all make professions of faith at one time or another but we rarely step out of our comfort zone to follow through. We all make declarations of love but we rarely let Him call the shots in our life especially when it matters the most. If I have learned anything it is that God delights in us. He desires to have us all for Himself. By that I mean He delights in our simple faith. Faith that says I'll take you at your word no matter what, faith that is willing to suffer, willing to be confused and discouraged, faith that rests in the reality of who He is, no matter what our heart might say. And even if we don't have it in us right now to have that sort of faith, it's still ok. Because Jesus walked in that faith on earth in our place. His perfect faith has been applied to us in His name. So we are free to try and fail. Isn't that great? 

I hope I have stirred you on to greater faith with my testimony of faithlessness. Perhaps my failure can be a lightbulb to you in some dark place in the not too distant future. Maybe it will remind you to turn back to the gospel, to rely on Christ in your own time of need when you forget as I have. I hope so. Either way I am honored to share with you what I have learned in this great season of transition. I pray the Lord will richly bless you as you follow His leading in your own life. 

Cindy and I are so grateful to you for your love and support.


Praises: 

- For a great community of believers to fellowship with!
- For new friends and play dates for the kids!
- For excellent reports from both boys teachers at school!
- For opportunities to grows in ways we never knew we needed to.

Please pray....

- For a great job for Chris with great benefits and great pay!
- For decisions that need to be made in the next week and wisdom.
- For a great place to live. That God would provide the perfect place and we would trust Him.  There are lots of housing obstacles here but with God nothing is impossible.
- For the finances to cover all of our needs.


Here are some recent family pictures....

Silver Lake Park, Everett, WA

Daddy pushing all the kids at the park!

Josiah turned 6 years old!!

Its fun getting to know all the parks!

Noah loves the park!


Thank you for your continued love and support!! We love to pray for you and your concerns as well.  Please let us know how we can be praying for you. :)

Love in Christ,

The Broniste Family
Chris & Cindy
Josiah, Noah and Rebecca