Featuring: Cherise and Keith Luter

Love is what God wants from me, from all of us, and faith isn’t based on righteous certainty. It’s based on knowing nothing, and being okay with the vulnerable space that places us in. 
It is that space that connects us all.
​— Cherise

See the original article, What Being a Christian Means to Me: Don’t Worry About the Rules; Just Love on my blog. The link to Huffington Post Religion is there too. 

I have a method to my bracket madness.

Just a moment of transparency...

There are times when I feel my hopes and dreams dwell on the other side of my flaws and mistakes. Therefore, knowing that perfection is impossible and mistakes will happen, what I want to accomplish always seems just out of reach. 

God is still working on me, when it comes to my confidence in myself and my abilities, but those nagging voices are diligent. 

If you feel this way too, know you are not alone. We may be fighting our own individual battles, but it is the same war. 

I was a troublemaker in Sunday school. No, not because I was passing notes (though they were passed, discreetly). I was a troublemaker because I did the worst thing a young Southern Baptist born and raised girl can do: I asked questions. The big questions.

If Noah and his family were the only people left on Earth after the flood, how did they repopulate without incest? If drinking alcohol is a sin, why was it okay for Jesus to do it? If it took seven days to create the Earth, what about the dinosaurs?

That last one was the question that got me in real trouble. I was publicly scolded by my teacher for causing a commotion. Luckily, my parents were reasonable human beings and didn’t see the harm in having an inquisitive eight-year-old. But even with their support, I subliminally learned a lesson that day: asking questions wasn’t Christian.

The idea for[Create]Faith came to me through my work as a fashion and lifestyle writer.

I spent my days interviewing designers, artists, and many other types of creatives and, though we would cover many topics, the subject would inevitably shift to their inspirations. Most would go to great lengths to describe the ways they seek out their muse, but some would greet my question with reluctance. I could see the nervousness on their faces as they searched for the right words, as opposed to the full truth.

Then, they would utter a phrase that both annoyed and saddened me…

“I don’t want to get too spiritual but…”

They didn’t want to get too spiritual with a reporter.

They didn’t want to get too spiritual with a rep from a major magazine.

They didn’t want to get too spiritual with someone whose beliefs they couldn’t pinpoint.

​They didn’t want to get too spiritual with me.