S2 Ep16- Stepping In and Making It So

When everything feels uncertain, most of us reach for a map. I reach for something steadier. John 14 opens with words that don’t shame our anxiety, they name it: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” From there, I reflect on what faith looks like when you don’t get a step-by-step plan, when the future is foggy, and when you just want to know you’re not alone.

I also pull an unexpected thread from Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Picard and his famous line: “Make it so.” Beneath the command is a deeper question about trust. Before we can move forward, we have to believe the next step is worth taking. That connects straight into Jesus’ words to Thomas and Philip: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Not a set of directions, but a presence to walk with. We talk about troubled hearts, spiritual encouragement, Christian faith in hard seasons, and how guidance can be relational instead of informational.

We close by widening the lens from individual certainty to shared community: love and compassion continuing through ordinary people in quiet, faithful ways. If you’ve been asking “How can I know the way?” this reflection offers a grounded answer: trust enough to keep walking, and notice the evidence of grace you’ve already seen.

Subscribe for more Ancient Truth for the Modern Heart, share this with someone who needs steadiness today, and leave a review if it helps. What’s one next step you can take, even without the full map?

Let's Get Into It!!

Transcript

Welcome And A Place To Breathe

Speaker 0:08

Welcome friends to Ancient Truth for the Modern Heart. I'm Steve Pozzato, and as always, I'm grateful that you're here to spend this time with me. Wherever you find yourself today, whether things feel steady or uncertain, whether your life feels full or a little heavy, I hope that this is a space where we can slow down together. Where we can take these ancient words and we listen for the way that they still speak. Not as answers to everything, but as something that meets us in the middle of where we are. Right where it needs to meet us. There are moments in life when we wish someone could just tell us it's going to be okay. We don't need them to explain everything and not even to solve every problem, but just steady us. To remind us that we're not lost, that we're not alone. And last week we spoke of the Good Shepherd

Make It So And Trust

Speaker 1:20

reminding us that we are not alone. And that there is something ahead worth trusting. A simple and direct statement that again comes from Star Trek The Next Generation. This is one of my favorite programs, is when Captain Picard needs something to happen, some kind of action, he says, make it so. It's a moment where a decision has been made, and now it is time to move forward. To get it done. But underneath that phrase, there's something deeper too. Because before you can say make it so, you have to trust the direction that you're going. You have to believe that the path you're choosing is one that you can step into. And this is what I've always loved about Star Trek and the Bible and Lord of the Rings that we've spoken of before. I think that it shows us that there is a passage forth and that none of us are alone. Whether we are with friends, trusted crewmates, one another, or people we have never met, we are not alone. And that is something we can step into.

Scripture Reading John 14

Speaker 2:53

Our passage today comes from the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verses 1 through 14, and it comes at a moment in the story where everything feels a little more uncertain. Jesus is speaking to his disciples just before things begin to change, before confusion, before fear, before everything they thought they understood begins to shift. And in that moment, he speaks words meant to steady them. It's meant to ground them. So as you listen, pay attention to what feels like reassurance here. What feels to you like invitation? My friends, what feels like something you might need to hear? So let's listen to that scripture now. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered, Don't you know me, Philip? Even after I have been among you such a long time, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father living in me who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater than these, because I am going to the Father, and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Troubled Hearts And Steady Presence

Speaker 6:16

Yeah, there is something very human about the way that this passage begins. Because it acknowledges something we all know. Our hearts get troubled. We worry and we question and we carry uncertainty. So much of it. Every single day. And sometimes we think that faith is supposed to remove that. But it doesn't. Instead, what we're offered is something that meets us within it. Not the absence of trouble, but a presence that steadies us in the middle of it. In this passage, Jesus speaks about trust, but not in a way that gives all the details. There's no step-by-step plan. There's no complete explanation of what's coming next, and maybe that's the point. Because so much of life doesn't come with full clarity. We don't always know where things are leading, and we don't always understand the path, and yet we are still invited to trust. One of the most well-known parts of this passage is the question that is asked there. How can we know the way? And that question feels incredibly honest. Because we ask it too. Right? Right? How do we know we're doing the right thing? How do we know we're moving in the right direction? How do we know we are not lost? And the response is not a map. It's not a set of instructions. It is once again, relationship. I am the way. Not a path to follow along, but a presence to walk with. There's also this moment in the passage where the disciples are still searching for clarity. They want something more, right? Something visible, something certain. And Jesus responds by pointing them to what has already been there, to what they have already seen. And maybe that is something that we miss too, because we're often looking for something extraordinary. When God is already present. When God is already present in what we've been experiencing all along.

The Way As Relationship

Speaker 9:29

Maybe it means that the work of love, of compassion, of presence doesn't stop in one place or with one person. Rather, it continues. And so we widen the road. We widen the guardrails. We widen the work that is done. It continues through people, through community, through the small quiet ways that we show up for one another. That's something we do every day. How can we do this? How can we know the way? We have had a shepherd, and we still have the shepherd. So what does it mean then to say make it so in this context? Not in a commanding way and not in a controlling way, but in a trusting way. Maybe it means this that we don't have all the answers, but we trust enough to take the next step together. We don't fully understand everything. We may not even know what we're looking at ahead, but we trust enough to keep moving forward. We don't control the outcome, but we participate in the unfolding. We participate in the unfolding. We may not know what is at the end of the road, but we will also never find out if we don't walk.

Faith As Participation And Next Steps

Speaker 11:17

So let's get to faith. What about faith in this passage? Well, in this passage, I think faith is not passive at all. It is not waiting for everything to become clear. It's participation, right? It's stepping into what is already being offered. It is aligning ourselves with love, with presence, with trust, and then living from that place. So, my friends, none of us are alone in this. Faith helps us to realign with ourselves and with that love and with that presence, not just with a belief in God or a belief in Jesus. He says in this passage, have you not already seen? And if you don't believe, believe what you have seen. Your faith is believing, but it is also seeing. It is also trusting that love. It is also trusting that presence. And making it so means stepping into something. Because this is the way forward. And we feel that that is the way forward. And we're willing to take that next step, even though we don't know where the journey ends. So wherever you are today, friends, if things feel uncertain, if you're asking questions, if you're wondering what comes next, then this passage doesn't hand you a perfect plan. But it does offer something steady. A reminder that you are not alone, that you are not without direction, that you are not moving without purpose, even if you don't see the whole path. And maybe faith then is not about knowing everything in advance. Maybe it is again about trusting enough to say, not with certainty, but with openness, make it so.

Share It With Someone And Prayer

Speaker 13:53

If this gave you something to carry with today, a moment of peace or a bit of clarity, I'd invite you to share it with somebody who might need it too. Because we are in this together, friends. Let us pray. God of a guiding hand, Lord of the journey, you know well our hearts. You know that we are troubled more often than we care to admit. You know that sometimes we have trouble defining our faith, and sometimes we even have trouble in believing. God of grace, be with us and be merciful. Let us remember that we are human, but we still have a good shepherd here to guide us. Let us smile when we move forward. Let us take comfort in knowing that we are taking the first steps together. And let us know that in this ever-widening love we are doing God's work. Help us to guide one another on our journeys as we guide others, as we follow the Good Shepherd, and may our hearts be filled with hope. May they be filled with joy, and may our spirits know peace. Amen.

Farewell And Carry The Love

Speaker 15:40

Well, my friends, I want to thank you again for joining me for this episode of Ancient Truth for the Modern Heart, and I'll see you again next time. Carry the love with you, friends. Because wherever you carry that love, there will you go in peace. Until next time, farewell and be well.