What It’s Like to Be a New Christian: A Poem About Faith and Growth

Quiet morning  - I decided to Verse Map 1 Corinthians 3:11 and this poem came to me….

The Center of the Jawbreaker

Pepper Richardson August 23rd 2026

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. - 1 Corinthians 3:11

It’s a quiet Sunday morning.

I’ve been awake since four.

Tea warms my hands.
Scripture is spread before me.
My pencil moves slowly through the words
while Brandon Lake sings
about talking to Jesus.

The world hasn’t quite awakened yet.

And neither, perhaps,
have I.

Not completely.

But something in me is waking.

I sometimes think of my faith like a jawbreaker.

Not because I think God is candy,
but because the image helps me understand
what is happening inside me.

At the very center
is the foundation God has lovingly built.

Solid.
Steady.
Rock solid.

That center is Christ.

I am still new to this.

I have only recently found Jesus,
or perhaps He found me,
and I am still learning who He is,
what it means to follow Him,
and how Scripture speaks
into an ordinary life.

So I find myself drawn
to people who have known Jesus
longer than I have.

People who have walked farther
down the road.

People who have prayed more prayers,
read more Scripture,
wrestled with more questions,
weathered more storms,
and discovered things
I haven’t discovered yet.

I think of them
as the layers of the jawbreaker.

Sweet layers.

Each carrying something different.

One teaches me mercy.

Someone else teaches me silence,
the kind that leaves room
for Scripture to speak.

A different voice opens a passage
I thought I understood
and suddenly I see it differently.

Someone shows me
what faith looks like
when life hurts.

And sometimes the lesson
is as simple as forgiveness,
surrender,
or learning to stay
when walking away would be easier.

I don’t have to make any of them
my foundation.

I can listen
to those who have walked before me.

I can savor what is good.

I can question what needs questioning.

I can receive wisdom
without giving another person
the place that belongs to Christ.

Some layers I may carry
for a lifetime.

Some may teach me
only for a season.

Some may challenge me.

Some may make me
reconsider what I thought I understood.

And that’s okay.

I don’t need to understand
every layer yet.

I don’t need to know
everything about theology,
Scripture, prayer,
or this strange and beautiful road
I’ve found myself walking.

I can learn slowly.

One layer at a time.

I don’t have to swallow
the whole jawbreaker at once.

I can sit here
on a quiet Sunday morning,

tea in my hands,
Scripture before me,
listening to someone
sing about talking to Jesus,

and let myself be new at this.

Let myself wonder.

Let myself learn.

Let myself be changed
by what is good
without forgetting
where I am rooted.

At the center is Christ.

Everything else
is something I am still learning
how to taste.