Armchair Woodworker...Armchair Christian

My father occasionally jokes that I am an armchair woodworker - a theorist more than a practical woodworker. You see, I spend a lot more time reading woodworking magazines and articles on-line than actually picking up a saw, plane and a piece of wood and making something. It is not that I don't want to do the real thing, it is just a lot easier sitting in a comfortable chair, looking at pictures and admiring someone else's hard work than getting up and doing it myself. Sometimes I wonder if my Heavenly Father thinks that my Christian life resembles my woodworking life. I read a lot of good books on the Christian life that inspire me to live better or differently, but do I really change my life or habits in response to these writers? Most days I try to read my Bible. Sometimes I read things that challenge me to live very differently than I am. Often it is easier to close the book and to think about something else (like woodworking) than to think about what I have read and to figure out how I am going to live differently or more obediently. I was recently reading in the book of James. Chapter 2 vs. 14-17 says, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him or her, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his or her physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. This trip to El Salvador that we are about to embark on is an opportunity for our faith and actions to work together. It is hard, no impossible, to go on this trip with only faith or only action. I think this trip will help our faith to become more complete in one way or another. I don't want to be just an armchair Christian. I think this trip is going to help me overcome this in more ways than one!