Like computer software,
first written to address
a finite set of requirements,
what requirements have grown over time,
in response to changing user needs—
what change is ad hoc, and messy to boot,
changes that require revisions to underlying code.

So is the evolution of faith,
for many a Christian,
over the course of doing life
with faith.

Many begin simply and hopefully,
with a set of beliefs and assumptions—
particular understandings of guiding texts,
positive expectations, maybe even presumptions,
about how faith would influence
the particulars of life
and the material universe where it plays out.

Almost invariably,
life—independent of individual expectations—
will test those assumptions.

Sometimes, reality plays out to expectation;
faith meets the world at a controlled intersection,
thus reinforcing our convictions.

Other times, reality mismatches expectation,
and we experience non-conformant outcomes,
which we may deem outliers—at least initially—
eventually begging questions,
which we may attribute to immaturity or inexperience,
at least initially.

Until these exceptions, piling up,
become too difficult to ignore in good conscience.
And we have gained the confidence to confront them honestly,
without losing faith.

Thus, we may allow
that our starting assumptions are overdue for reappraisal—
that the ‘code’ underlying our outlook
must be refactored in the light of life.

So we must remove ‘dead code’—
those things once assumed true, held dear,
now up for question or outright rejection—
so that in the end,
our claims are reasonable,
even when they are not based on reason.

Coherent enough for a skeptic, even.
So that our children,
seeing no daylight between the things we profess
and the lives we daily lead,
need little persuasion
that the faith of their fathers matters,
and that it works.

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