Category: Hope

When we have hope, our eyes are open to the future.

Brokenness

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No matter where we live or what our stage in life, all of us have a common problem:  our world is broken. It’s easy to name the multiple ills that seem to overwhelm our 21st century earthbound reality. Just a small list will suffice here – poverty, war, hunger, racism, disease. Yes, there are ample reasons to declare:  life sucks.

Image by enriquelopezgarre from Pixabay

As individuals, we’re also broken. We muddle through life in the midst of our brokenness. Thankfully, the grace of God is available to redeem us from the despair and despond. That is superb Good News! No matter how broken we are, because Christ died for us, we’re not without hope.

No one knows how many people across the world suffer from soul-killing hopelessness that mars their lives, almost from the moment of birth. (I suspect that number is staggering beyond belief.) My high school teacher used the phrase, man’s inhumanity to man, but whether it’s a tyrannical government or a caregiver being abusive and cruel, we know there’s suffering over which we’re unable to exert even the most minimal control. Continue reading “Brokenness” →

Sweeping Away the Old

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Goodbye to 2017. Was it a good year for you? Or a bad one? Either way, it’s done and we have a whole new year on the horizon.Time for making a fresh start, beginning tomorrow. Make the most of every opportunity! See you in 2018.

Random Vicissitudes

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Most people understand – at least in a theoretical sense – how quickly life can change. In the two months since I last posted, the silence hasn’t come about due to a lack of blogging material. No, no, no. Furthermore, every single day without a post brought a deeper sense of unease … the pattern of my life seeming slightly upended! Red-Pencil

But the respite from my daily pattern was necessary and welcome … necessary because life demanded I attend other matters and welcome because it freed me (somewhat) from my irrational obsession to slavishly maintain daily posts – no matter what! With each day that passed, my figurative pencil grew more insistent and red-faced. Much to my surprise, people continued to drop by and read previous posts. (I am gratefully humbled by your interest.) Continue reading “Random Vicissitudes” →

Mighty To Save

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Everyone needs compassion
A love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations

The lyrics above are the first stanza to a song written by award-winning lyricist and contemporary Christian vocalist Laura Story. The song is titled Mighty To Save.power-of-forgiveness_tListening today to the statements of family members in South Carolina addressing the young man who murdered their loved ones during a Wednesday evening Bible study, I heard these people express willing forgiveness for the murderer and a steadfast refusal to be consumed with the kind of hate the perpetrator’s deed demonstrated. Continue reading “Mighty To Save” →

Before Forever After

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A recent television show, titled Forever, offered the intriguing tale of a man who experiences a kind of immortality. He’s a couple hundred years old and if he dies or is killed, he returns. The premise had promise but earlier this month, after just one season Forever was cancelled. (I suppose when it comes to episodic television, there’s no such thing as Forever … unless it’s Law & Order.)foreverFrom the moment we’re born, it seems we consider ourselves invincible. It’s in our nature to view the world through what I would call forever eyes. As I’ve noted before on this blog, C. S. Lewis explained it this way:  “… we were made for another world.” Because we were made for another world, our eyes want to envision forever, our fingertips ache to touch forever, our hearts long to connect with forever. Each of these impulses is innate.

Continue reading “Before Forever After” →

In Days Gone By

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Most people, at some time or another in their lives, have known the crushing weight of aloneness … not only because their current circumstances appear bleak but also because it seems God isn’t there, His silence baffles and depresses! In Job chapter 29, the long-suffering Job laments his loneliness and yearns for previous days (verse 2) “when God watched over me.”

FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake

Having progressed more than halfway through Job’s saga, we can begin to intuit from his remarks that he’s adjusting to his diminished state. He notes in the early verses of the chapter how God had richly blessed him … he and God had experienced a precious friendship (verse 4). Continue reading “In Days Gone By” →

Not A Sour Note

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Ever since we first viewed the 2007 film Bella, I’ve paid attention to Eduardo Verástegui and the projects with which he’s been involved. Bella tells the story of an international soccer star (José played by Verástegui) whose life takes a sharp turn that abruptly ends the man’s career. As the movie begins, he’s working as a cook in a restaurant.eduardo-verastegui-jose-in-bella-2007-wallpaper_1280x1024_20488Lest I ruin the pleasure you’d have in watching this film, I won’t provide more details. It is well worth viewing. The movie earned multiple awards and honors, and though it didn’t fare well in reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, audiences liked it well enough to reward the film with RT’s Golden Tomato award. Continue reading “Not A Sour Note” →

Where Is Wisdom?

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When it comes to Wisdom, The Book of Job comprises one of five books of the Old Testament loosely referred to with the subheading wisdom literature. While Job has its historical context, the foundational questions about God and man, about Creation and the nature of evil and suffering, form the book’s decidedly philosophical tilt. This book is a serious conversation between the Creator and His created ones.

FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake

Following up on yesterday’s post about The Principal Thing, this post continues my Sunday discussions about Job with chapter 28 as today’s focus. Given the chapter’s overall flow, it complements yesterday’s post nicely.
Continue reading “Where Is Wisdom?” →

A Legacy of Integrity

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What do you do when a man maintains his innocence in the face of persistent accusations? In wartime, combatants are conditioned to undergo extensive interrogation without blurting out any secrets. Name, rank and serial number but nothing more. For the title character in The Book of Job, he continues in chapter 27 to argue he’s a man of integrity. Come on, my friends, my comforters! You may waterboard me but I’ll give you the same exact answers! My torment isn’t because of wrongdoing!

FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake

An interesting change has taken place though. Bildad, the last comforter who accused Job, spoke in chapter 25 and his speech was brief. The other comforters seem to have lost their vigor or have become weary of Job’s unwillingness to admit wrongdoing. Has Job convinced them he’s a righteous man? Or have they simply done with the discourse and backing away from their friend in anticipation of a lightning strike targeted at Job? Continue reading “A Legacy of Integrity” →

Looking for Good News

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All of us appreciate hearing Good News. Am I right?! When a person has waited on Good News the better part of fifty years, it can’t come too soon. Nearly a year ago, I posted about my good friend Joseph Wood who has been researching the details of his parentage, having been abandoned as an infant and found wrapped in a blanket-lined basket, mere hours after his 1965 birth.

JosephWood June
Joseph and June, 2015

Joseph’s delightful story has now made its way to the pages of the Chicago Tribune where it will (hopefully) garner attention and lead (at long last) to a reunion with the family of his birth. (Thanks to Mary Schmich for kindly featuring Joseph’s story!)

There’s already a basket-load of Good News related to Joseph’s story … even as he was abandoned, he was lovingly placed where he’d be found, he was lovingly adopted, he was nurtured in a loving home and all along the way, God had His hand on the lad – who grew into a man, husband, father, as well as a respected and admired friend who currently serves the State of Arkansas as our Deputy Secretary of State. Continue reading “Looking for Good News” →