Theologian Paul Tillich said that “faith” is the most misunderstood word in the religious vocabulary. And this is a tragedy, for faith stands at the very heart of the program; it is the sine qua non of the Christian thing. What is it? The opening line of Hebrews 11 has the right definition: “Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see.” Faith is a straining ahead toward those things that are, at best, dimly glimpsed. But notice it is not a craven, hand-wringing, unsure business. It is “confident” and full of “conviction.” Think of the great figures of faith, from Abraham to John Paul II: they are anything but shaky, indefinite, questioning people. Wilfred Stinissen writes that we have been given new eyes to discover the divine reality, namely, our faith. Faith sees through the outer shell and penetrates to the substance of things. Faith reveals new areas of reality (the Trinity, angels, and so on), but faith also enables us to see everything we encounter in a completely new way. It sees the deep dimension of daily events. That is why there is no longer anything ordinary for the believer; nothing is uninteresting or boring. Everything becomes exciting and fascinating. Beautiful thoughts and theories often remain in our heads and do not change our lives. They are not our most important teachers. We are influenced by events. In Hebrew, the terms for “word” and “event” (dabar) are the same. God speaks through events. Every event is a Word of God to us. He is in everything that happens. I live in God’s presence when I accept what happens as a message from him without rebelling against it. I am aware that he is continually working to form and sculpt me. This does not require any thoughts or words. Even work that demands all of my attention does not prevent me from living in God’s presence in this way. The only thing necessary is a “yes” attitude, letting God create me. We seek him in the great things, but he communicates and reveals himself in the small.