“The Broad Word of Faith”

Randell Chapman
Faith, Religion & Society
September 4, 2019

On September 6, my little girl turned 5 years old. It is wonderful watching her

growing up. My daughter, Rae was born 32 weeks into the pregnancy. She was
expected to be born late October or early November. The weekend before she was
born, my wife Kim, was told she needed to go and stay Labor Day weekend in the, (as
Kim and I call it) “Chateau of Magee” (Magee hospital). My wife was having reoccurring
headaches. Each day we were there, a different doctor stop by. One day was “do
nothing and see”. Another day would be, “We are going to induce you.” We had faith
that the doctors know what they are doing. We had faith that the doctors know what is
best for my wife and our baby. After one week, a doctor induced my wife. My
daughter, Rae is coming into this world 8 weeks early. I was worried. I was scared. Is
she fully developed to live? But I had faith in the doctors. They know what is best. That
is until the doctor whom told us to check into the hospital showed up. His first shift
back from vacation was at Magee hospital. He noticed Kim name on the sheet and
checked in with us. He was wondering why we was still in the hospital. He asked us
how it is going and what has happened during the week. We informed him the events
leading up to September 6. During our conversation, I could see that his eyes was happy
at first until we shared the news that Kim has been given the procedure to be induced.
The happy look turned into anger. He told us that Rae would have been ok for another
4 more weeks. The faith I had for Magee hospital staff went away. I was angry. I was
not angry at our doctor for checking us into the hospital. I was angry because a “world
renown” hospital made a bad call. It is interesting that one negative occurrence can
change a person perspective on a whole group. I am sure there are a lot of good and
trustworthy doctors in the hospital. As happy I was my little girl was born, I had a new
different opinion about the staff.
 I actually don’t know what faith is. I never really understood the books definition
of faith. I felt that the words of what faith is gets lost in the examples the writer is trying
to make. When I was younger, I was more creative with thoughts and writings. Since I
gotten older, I have become a person who needs a direct approach. My professional
title is Tool and Die Machinist Journey man. In my job, we have to be exact to what the
customers want. The customers give us a blueprint and we make the product to their
specifications. For me having a deeper thought on word play is not one of my forte. I
can say the customers is giving us faith to complete the part in time. And as a company
providing the part, we give faith to the customer that they will pay us in time. But that
is not what this paper is about. This paper is about a deeper meaning of faith.
It is clear that faith is all around us in the outside world. Just like my opening
paragraph, it was very clear on the outside that I did not trust the doctors anymore at
Magee Hospital. But what was the inner faith look like. For that, I must look deeper and
try to understand better.
Faith is very broad, but faith is very personal. It is the one thing that can make
you or break you. Faith can also control your life. Faith can lead a life to heart break
and faith can lead a life to celebrations. Faith is a human choice.
I feel that it is human nature to have faith in something or someone. But it is
humans’ mind that chooses how much faith to give. I believe faith equals hope. I have a
friend named Sarah. For the longest time, Sarah had a hard time of finding love. Sarah is
a very strong willed, strong minded woman. When she was doing an internship in Erie
Pennsylvania, she met a guy named Dallas. When she told me about Dallas, I knew
something was not right. She told me some negative stories about Dallas. But she
always followed them with, “But he did this for me. He is great guy. You just have to
get to know him.” With all the negative things she was saying to me, her mind kept
telling her to continue to have faith for him. She gave hope that one day he will turn
around and see what a great girl she really is. She was unhappy for 6 days of the week.
But when that 7th day rolled around; he would do something to make her happy again.
 People want to be happy so bad that they choose to give faith. They throw faith
around blindly to get the happiness in their lives. An example is like a bad golf player.
The bad golf player stands at the tee box and swing the perfect swing, hit the golf ball
and it goes straight where he wants it to go, faith has been born. In his mind, he knows
that he can do it again. He knows that one perfect golf swing gave him a small glimmer
of faith. He can hit the golf ball 20 to 30 time bad in a row. But in his mind and heart,
the faith is there that he can hit the golf ball straight again. So, he continues to try. His
mind gets frustrated. His heart will weaken. And then it happens again. He did it again.
He had that one perfect swing and the ball flies straight again. His faith was refueled.
And he continues to play. He will continue to practice. And then that perfect swing
happens more often, and his faith builds greater. He becomes a good golf player. That
is what faith does. It builds personal hope. It builds the personal hope from the
smallest things to the biggest accomplishments. It defines love and could define
breakups. Faith can define people. In Sarah story, Sarah started to define Dallas. Her
faith in Dallas change from happiness to negatives. Her mind told her that he will never
change and eventually, they went their separate way. Sarah did find love. She has a
loving, faithful husband and a beautiful little girl. I like to think that her faith in herself
grew.
In my own case with Rae, I lost my faith in Magee hospital for a small amount of
time. I looked into myself of the situations the doctors were in. Could the pregnancy
last longer? Yes. Could there have been a medical issue with Kim that could have
damage her or Rae? Yes. The doctors had to choose a route to take. The phrase,
Monday morning quarterback, comes from people talking what should have been done
after the events has happen. It is very easy for me to say they should have waited. I
was angry because I saw the situation on the outside, not the inside. I blindly threw
away my faith with the doctors there because my wife doctor did not agree with their
decision. The anger I showed was not my own. I choose to get angry because my wife
doctor was angry. If he was not there that day, I would not have questioned my faith
with the staff at Magee.
 I still don’t know the complete definition of faith the book wants to define.
What I think faith define is; Faith is very personal. Faith is hope. Faith is trust. Faith
eliminates doubt. Faith can make us happy and faith can make us sad. Faith is human
nature. Faith meaning is a broad word.