What Israel’s story makes painfully obvious is that following the Lord is a lifelong lesson in “I believe, but help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
Faith holds on to the truth of who Jesus is revealed to be, despite our sometimes incongruent experience with God.
This is an excerpt from the first chapter of A Reasoned Defense of the Faith by Adam Francisco (1517 Publishing, 2026), pgs 1-3.

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I’ve always been a very passionate person. Adventure is my favorite thing.
My parents will be the first to tell you, I can really put my foot in my mouth. I often don’t say the right thing.
In the face of all the misunderstandings on the part of the world and all the errors which have arisen within Christendom, let us make this point absolutely clear: the task of the church in the world consists uniquely and alone in the preaching of the Word of God and in administering the Sacrament.
But where love is necessary we pray for our enemies and bless them in the hope that God will repent and convert them to the Gospel.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been anxious about something. I can still feel the weight of worry from my earliest fears - believing every night I would get sucked down the pipes along with dirty, draining bath water.
The Sixth Sense is a suspenseful and scary movie where a little boy is born with the strange gift of seeing dead people.
The wound on my hand would not let me forget what happened. The crackled and blistered strip of skin was a memento of the searing pain I felt that day. For the remainder of that year, I was constantly reminded of what I had done.
I hear voices in my head accusing me, telling me these sins will be there on the Day of Judgment unless I make atonement.
I spend a lot of time talking to people in coffee shops. Some share my Christian faith, some are exploring and questioning faith and others have left the church, having had a crisis of faith.
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.
The sight of indulgences being bought and sold is just not something I witness on a regular basis.
We focus on what we have, what we don't have, and how and when God is going to give us what we need. This the opposite of faith.