Getting My Muse On!

Mary always knew this day would come, but she was still unprepared for it. How can anyone prepare for this insanity? The vacillating crowd, followed him with cheers and applause one day, and the next cursed him with the rebellious shouts of the damned.

 She remembered standing at the edge of the crowd staring in disbelief at the three bodies. This was senseless! Why did it happen? Surely, the other two deserved this. After all, they were thieves; but Jesus did nothing to merit this sentence.

 In the darkness, Mary rested her exhausted form on her mat as her mind flew back over the six months since he has been gone. So much has changed. His followers are in hiding most of the time. They come out boldly, preaching his message during the day, but at night, they hide among the new converts.

 Jesus made many enemies while he lived here. In death, he had attracted more. The stories and the lies they concocted afterwards to justify his appearance to the multitudes was only the beginning.

 A slight smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she remembered her little boy running across the marketplace to tell her of his latest revelation. So young, and yet so much wisdom. God revealed many secrets to this child He had entrusted into her care. Softly touching his curls Mary gazed into the dark eyes that danced with such merriment. His smile never changed. She could see the same smile the last time he visited her. He still looked to her like the same little boy who was so eager to share God’s truths with her.

 As Mary lay on her mat, her mind rushed in many directions. Part of her struggled with inexpressible grief. Losing Jesus was the most difficult experience she ever had since the death of her beloved Joseph years earlier. Another part of her rejoiced in knowing Jesus would never be hurt again. Through his death, he had won his battle and the struggle for himself and all who would follow him.

 The hardest part of all of this is accepting that he is no longer her son; he now her Savior. He is no longer the little boy with curls. Nor is he the young man who came to her so often for guidance. He had fulfilled His Father’s plan for his life, and now he sits at His right hand.

 Mary lay in the dark remembering her long battle. She thought on the day an angel told her she would bear God’s Son. He entrusted His plans into her care. She was so overwhelmed that God would want her for such responsibility and honor. She had loved Jesus, protected him, taught him, and guided him for most of her life. She had to remind herself frequently that he was never actually hers. He belongs to humanity. He came with a goal and death was part of the plan.

 Now she understood the price God paid when He placed Jesus into her womb. How it must have broken His heart to send him to such a hostile place. Their relationship had changed, too. He no longer belonged only to His Father. He now belonged to the world.

Did you know that marriage is the only relationship in Scripture where two people become one? It illustrates the Trinity’s triune relationship. The Trinity is three separate individuals with different identities and roles, agreeing as one, in perfect harmony. Marriage is two separate individuals with different identities and roles, agreeing as one, in perfect harmony. Well, at least it is two separate individuals with different identities and roles. The agreeing part is something we have to learn. But if we love one another enough we can learn how to disagree without hurting each other.

God tells us to leave our father and mother, cleave together, and become one (Gen. 2:24). Like the Trinity, we must develop oneness of spirit. Though we love our parents, we grow up; marry, move away, and establish new families. Eventually, our children will leave and start their own families. Couples are together long after the children grow up and leave home, so we should make our marriage our priority.

Cotten Mather wrote, “Well ordered families naturally produce a good order in society.” God’s plan for a strong marriage is to produce strong families. Strong families create a healthy society. Marriage blends two people from different backgrounds and families, with different customs, traditions, and methods of communicating, into one. This clearly causes conflict. We can compare newlyweds to two porcupines trying to hug; the closer they get, the more they hurt one another.

By understanding a few key relationship principles, we can find new ways to handle conflict. After we’re married, we cannot react to anger and disappointment as we did before. Learning to disagree constructively is crucial to any family. Ideally, most couples should build their relationship before having children, so they will have time to establish healthy methods of conflict resolution.

I’m from a large family with six screaming kids. My husband, Michael, was the oldest of three bookworms. Two months after our wedding, we had our first big blow up. We were outside when he made me angry. I started screaming. After all, that’s the way I had always handled conflict. He just said, “Woman, when you can carry on an intelligent conversation, I’ll be in the house.” With that, he sauntered in and closed the door. I was speechless. This changed my life by forcing me to learn healthy conflict resolution. After all, what fun is it screaming at a closed door?

Occasional conflict is expected in marriage. How we treat one another during conflict, can seriously affect our relationships. We must focus on what we disagree on instead of throwing up past failures or using abusive, cutting words that hurt. We want to find a solution, not win an argument. If we need to fight to win, we should take up boxing. To create strong families we need to concentrate on what’s best for the relationship, and set our own agendas aside.

Our family should have a positive impact on our community. We are God’s witness to a lost world. People notice how we interact and how we speak to one another. They see our children’s demonstrations of love, and it makes them wonder what makes our family different from other families. What better time to share God’s love with them, and draw them into His kingdom? When we build our family on God’s relationship principles, we will be in His plan for our lives and our family. Believe me, making up is a whole lot more fun if you do not fight first.

“Good Morning U.S.A., we’re the place for news, weather, and traffic updates, and here’s your host, Diane Mason. Good morning, Diane.”

“Good morning, Dave. Let me introduce our audience to this lovely woman beside me. Mattie Olsen is a member of an elite group called Supercentenarians. At age 119, she is one of only seventy-seven people documented to be 110 years or older. Mattie was born on a wagon train when her parents traveled from Missouri to California. She has seen our country go from the Old West to our modern age of cell phones, computers, and ipods.

“Good morning, Mattie, and welcome to Good Morning U.S.A.”

“Mornin, dearie.”

“Mattie, you must have seen just about everything in your lifetime.” Diane softly laid her slender hand on Mattie’s gnarled ones. She was stunning in her blue suit and white silk blouse. Her long blonde hair added to her stylish appearance. In her thirteen-years as CBS’s chief anchor, she has interviewed Presidents, world-leaders, and a Pope. Never, however, had she anticipated an interview more than this one. To Diane, Mattie represented volumes of living history.

“Mattie, you’re amazing. May I call you, Mattie?” Diane respected this woman and wanted to convey it.

“Sure, that’s my name, ain’t it?” Mattie cackled at her own wit. Her mind was as sharp as it had been at age forty thought spent most of her time in  a wheelchair.

Diane smiled at the joy radiating from this charming woman. “Mattie, tell me a little bit about yourself, your family, who you are.” The camera moved in closer, catching the twinkle in her eyes. “There’s really not too much to tell anymore. I’ve outlived my husband, my children, my grandchildren, and everyone I ever knew. I grew up on a ranch in California with my parents, three brothers, and four sisters. “Course they’ve all been gone for years. My husband, George, and I was married fifty-five-years when he died.” Mattie’s lips turned up into a mischievous smile. “Those were fifty-five-years of adventure, for sure.”

“Why is that?” Diane was curious.

“Well, we spent the first fifty-years or so figuring each other out. Then he had to up and die on me just when things was gettin’ good.” Mattie laughed.

Diane admired Mattie’s sense of humor. Maybe this is why she had lived so long. “Tell me Mattie, to what would you attribute your long life?”

“To lots of things, I reckon.” Mattie slowly leaned forward as if to share a secret. “I guess if I had to say it was one thing it would be I walked the walk, not just talked the talk.” “Really?” Diane furrowed her eyebrows.

“Yep. I got sick and tired of people who’d tell you how to live and what to do, but didn’t do it themselves. ‘Specially deacons.” “Deacons?” “Yep, deacons. The itinerate preacher used to come to our neck o’ the woods ’bout every three months and preach ’bout how we was supposed to live. Then he’d traipse off preachin’ somewhere else, leavin’ a deacon to take care o’ the flock. That was like leaving a fox to guard the hen house. Why, our head deacon, Brother Tripe, would do all manner o’ stuff. Acted like God’s gift to the church, then went and had himself an affair with the school marm.” “What a shame.” Diane wanted to laugh.

“He sure was ashamed when he got caught.” Mattie doubled over in laughter. “I was just a kid but I decided I wadn’t gonna live like that. I learned a long time ago that even a crib baby is walkin’.”

“What do you mean?” This fascinating woman intrigued Diane.

“From our first breath to our last, we’re walking through this world, leavin’ footprints all over the place. Anybody can tell ya what ta do, but only God can help you do it. I met God when I was just a wisp of a girl. I asked Him a long time ago to let me see myself from where He sits, you know, lookin’ down from heaven above. Deacon Tripe talked the talk, but didn’t walk the walk. I’ve spent the last 105 years watchin’ where I put my feet, and I think maybe that’s why I”m still around.” “Mattie, we’re out of time. Thank you for being with us and for your wonderful insights. I’ve enjoyed meeting you.” Diane smiled into the camera with her usual outward composure. Inside she wondered how God saw her walk. She mused, Yes, Mattie Olsen is still leaving footprints.

Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord; looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God, or lest any root of bitterness springing up disturb you, and by it many are defiled (Hebrews 12:14, 15).

Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love the smell of fresh flowers, the warmth of the sun as it greets a new day, and the excitement of new beginnings found in nature all around me. In the spring, I feel like I can do almost anything. It is a time of forgetting the past, leaving winter behind, and looking forward to the future with renewed energy.

Today becomes the by-word. Yesterday is gone and I cannot change it. Tomorrow is only a hope, not even a promise, but today, today is mine. Today I can start that diet, write that letter, send a card to a friend, and take my granddaughter to lunch. Today I can put into motion all those wonderful ‘what-ifs’ that have been niggling in the outer edges of my mind. Today I begin again.

Spring is a time for forgiveness and for change. Beginning again implies we failed the first time and maybe a second, third or more. But, in the spring all that is forgotten and there is renewed hope; possibilities are endless.

To harness all the energy that comes with this season requires an important commitment on my part. I must be willing to put the past behind me, forgive myself and anyone else involved in my failures, and look forward. For our weak human nature that is not always the easiest thing to do. Jesus is the ultimate example of forgiveness. He forgave me and He has forgiven millions of others for horrendous deeds.

If Jesus can suffer the shame of the cross and love us while doing it, why do we have such a hard time forgiving ourselves and each other?

Un-forgiveness is the acid that eats away our hopes. How can we hope to move forward if we are chained to the past by bitterness and un-forgiveness? Families that learn the art of forgiving can be a positive influence anywhere. Families, who harbor grudges, refusing to see the other person’s side, live in anger, hate, and bitterness that will, by its very nature destroy them.

Learning to live a life of forgiveness is not easy. It requires a lot of pain and struggle. People hurt us both intentionally and unintentionally. We must remember that they and they alone will answer to God for their actions. We will account for our own. When we trust God to keep score, our minds are free to do other things. We can concentrate on the important things in life with fewer lines and wrinkles.

While learning the art of forgiving others we must not forget that it is just as important to forgive ourselves. We all make mistakes, have regrets, and hurt others. We fail, grow weary and even undependable at times, but we must accept that weakness, strive to overcome it, and move forward.

Forgiveness brings change. By choosing to forgive, we choose life, and set in motion all those wonderful things found on a beautiful spring day.

Closing Prayer: Father, search my heart to root out all seeds of bitterness and anger that I may feel against another. Remind me daily that my brothers and sisters are Your children and that Your Son died for them as well as for me. If there is a hidden root help me to destroy it that it can never spring to life again. Let my life reflect Your love and mercy to everyone I meet that I can glorify You in everything.

Closing Thought: Has someone caused you suffering in your life that you just can’t bring yourself to forgive? Do you tell yourself that they had no right and to forgive them will only make you appear weak? Not so. To forgive is the only way for you to gain the spiritual strength you are seeking from God. To not forgive weighs on you like a heavy stone around your neck. When you release this person in forgiveness, you release yourself as well.

The Lord calls many of us to do his work. He has his own peculiar way of calling those he has ordained to serve him. Sometimes we feel comfortable and build a nest where we are, and God has to push us into our new direction. Like Joseph, he sometimes places us in an uncomfortable position to prove us and make us grow. This forces us to learn to live by faith alone.

At other times, he leads us into the next phase of our journey as he did king David, who fought a lion, then a bear. He did not fight Goliath until after he was ready. He was stepping up each time by facing what was in front of him and doing the right thing. Each step prepared him for the next one. He endured and became adept at what the Lord had for him.

As women, we often see God has called us to serve him and accepted it. The ministry is not something that just happens or something we stumble into. Sometimes people seem to be standing around waiting for the Lord to rain knowledge, ability, and skills down upon them so they can immediately do his work. This rarely happens. God uses women in every occupation, but he expects us to be prepared when opportunity knocks.

Paul said, “study to show yourself approved…” (II Tim 2:15). If we intend to accomplish God’s plan for our lives, we must first obtain the wisdom and knowledge we need for a strong foundation. One of the most valuable things Jesus did was to teach his disciples. He spent three years ministering and training them, teaching them how to minister.

When God calls us, He is also calling us to understand things we do not yet know. The Disciples submitted themselves to the ministry under Jesus for three years. Jesus taught them. They lived their lives with him and became friends, willing to share his hardships and the burdens. They took on his vision for the lost. They realized the truth of his calling.

The ministry is not always the noble, rewarding, self-fulfilling, exciting life that it appears. We must understand the full commitment. Peter was committed to Jesus from the start. He started following Jesus because he thought he would take the nation back for the Jews. He wanted a physical kingdom. Eventually, he understood the eternal purpose of the ministry. Peter eventually became God’s leader for the local church. The true purpose of the ministry became his heart’s desire. The truth was more valuable to him than his earlier passion for a physical kingdom. The eternal kingdom was much greater than the earthly one.

The disciples became Apostles only after Jesus called them out. The word “Apostle” means, “sent out”. They did not rush out on their own into ministry. Jesus sent them out in agreement. In Acts (8:14) The Apostles sent Peter and John to Samaria. One may think he is ready for the ministry ahead, but only one who has been down the road knows what he will need to make the trip and the requirements for its successful completion. Many ministries failed because lack of knowledge and education. With our instant media and internet, today’s minister has no excuse for being unprepared.

Approximately every 50 years or so, God shines his light onto a new facet of his plans for ‘Operation Man.’ In addition, he places a new emphasis on the gifts necessary to promote his plan and bring it to fruition for each age. Although his gifts are the same and will never change, history reveals that Christians in every generation brush the dirt off of buried truth bringing it to the light as God uses it to demonstrate his power.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit, tongues, and the appearance of certain gifts operated sporadically throughout the centuries. Most of the early church fathers had some degree of this experience at least once in their lifetime, even though they did not fully understand it. Many of them lived their entire lives and ministries from the power and cherished memory of this one single experience or time with God.

In the Nineteenth-Century the early holiness movement and the Keswick ‘Higher Life’ movement ushered in a remarkable period of restoration. The first known person in the United States to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues was a woman named Agnes Ozman on January 1, 1901. She was a student in Topeka, Kansas. From Kansas, the Holy Spirit moved at Azusa Street in California for years. Today’s Pentecostal movement began from these roots.

During the 1940’s, the Pentecostal movement more than doubled in size, increasing in churches, ministers, and constituents. The middle of the 20th-Century was a pivotal time of renewal for the church. The large ministries of that period predominately operated in the gift of healing. People like Oral Roberts and Kathryn Kulman lead the church into a new era of growth and prosperity. Healing was the expected outcome of faith and prayer, rather than the exception.

Many of the churches and movements that grew so prosperously in the decade of the forties and fifties have reached a level of escalating decline in the latter part of the 20th-Century.

Today we’re in a new century and a new era. God wants to do a new phenomenon in our generation just like he has done in preceding ages. He is sweeping the dust off of hidden truths for our generation. He is moving through churches and bringing in the sweet aroma of life. He plans to raise up leaders with vision. He is looking for mature, seasoned, experienced men and women who hear his voice and understand his Spirit through a deep, intimate, personal relationship.

The Holy Spirit is breathing a new spirit of revival into the church. Like the pastors and ministers in the forties, today’s minister must seek the face of God and become sensitive to the moving of his Spirit. We cannot expect him to bless our archaic, stale, outmoded programs. People want something with energy and passion. They will not stay long in churches that reek of death.

The Church is moving into a glorious time of change and growth. Our spiritual fathers left us a solid framework on which to build, for both current and future generations. We’re living in one of the greatest times the church has ever known. These are the last days. God has handpicked you and I to be his vessels to generate life to his church as we anticipate and work for his soon return. I hope you feel as exhilarated and as honored I as do.

One of my favorite Bible stories is of a common Jewish woman who found her niche in history by simply being herself. Queen Esther’s quiet spirit of obedience gave her favor with God and man. God used her to save her condemned people because she found favor with the king.

Esther was lovely, but so were the other virgins brought to the palace by King Ahasuerus of Shushan. He was replacing his wife Queen Vashti, who had refused to let him flaunt her beauty to his court and visitors. The King’s counselors warned him that she set a poor example for all wives in the kingdom and advised him to dispose of her.

Every compelling story has a villain. Our rogue’s name is Haman. The King promoted Haman above all the other princes, second only to himself. Haman advised the king to enter a decree that at a certain time all Jews in the nation were to be killed. This is because they followed their own laws and refused to bow down and worship him as the King’s most powerful ruler. The king made the proclamation, although he had no inkling that his beloved Esther was a Jew. She had kept this to herself.

Her uncle, Mordecai sent word to her of this plan and told to make a plea to the king for the sake of her nation. She sent word to Mordecai that, “All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces know, that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except him to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but I have not been called to come into the king these thirty days.” (Esther 4:11, Webster Ed.)

Mordecai responded, “Do not think within yourself that you shall escape in the king’s house more than all the Jews. For if you are completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house shall be destroyed. And who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:13, 14 NKJV) Mordecai did not waste these words on Queen Esther. Through fasting, prayers, and God’s grace, she found favor when she entered the king’s presence, and ultimately saved her people.

Esther was a woman of destiny. Like you and I, she was God’s woman for her time. The same can be said when God asks any of us to do something for Him. We can let fear cause us to miss an opportunity to serve our generation. Or, we can beat back our fear, grab hold of our destiny, and change our world in the New Year ahead. I vote to make a difference in 2010. How about you?

Several years ago, an agricultural scientist was searching for a way to eliminate the destructive horn beetle without destroying other beneficial insects. The horn beetle has long antennas, which he uses, for navigation. The scientist was scraping one of these antennas when he discovered the secret of its remarkable sense of direction was built in radar he used like a receiver. The scientist wrote an article in a popular agricultural magazine describing this incredible radar guidance system. He went into considerable detail and gave specifics about his breakthrough discovery.

A few days later, the authorities arrested him and questioned him. They wanted to know how he got the information about the new radar guidance system. He had to do some serious explaining to convince them his information came from the pesky horn beetle. .

It turned out that the radar guidance system he had discovered was a new, state of the art, guidance system NASA had begun to operate in space travel. NASA kept the ’secrets’ under lock and key, and only a limited number of people were aware of its existence. Everyone involved in the project had the highest security clearance. The FBI could not imagine a mere agriculture scientist could possibly know of its existence and the intricate details of its operation.

Some scientists believe the horn beetle has been around for three million years and makes up one fourth of the animal population on earth at any one time. NASA stumbled onto the radar guidance system that God had placed in this insect so long ago.

Many of man’s marvelous creations are like this unassuming horn beetle. We think we are so smart, and yet, all we do is expose God’s marvelous design already functioning in nature.

Have you ever wondered how a salmon finds her way back home to spawn? After she hatches, she travels thousands of miles to the ocean to stay for four to six years. Then, swimming upstream, she returns to the same river or stream where she was born to lay eggs and reproduce. She does this through her impeccable sense of smell.

Most things in nature have an even number of rows or lines. Corn always has an even number of rows on each ear. Watermelon has an even number of stripes and so does cantaloupe. How can people see God’s design in the world and not believe in the Creator who created it with so much detail?

I once heard Paul Selah say, “to believe in the ‘Big Bang Theory’ makes about as much sense as believing an explosion in a printing plant resulted in the creation of Webster’s Dictionary.”

God often uses nature to get our attention. I have a pastor friend who was staying at a hotel in Alaska during the winter. He was going through a devastating event in his life and was questioning his relationship with God and even his calling to the ministry. During a difficult moment, he went out to walking in the icy snow surrounding the hotel and wound up on a park bench next door. Of course, there was nothing green anywhere, and the cold weather was not helping his mood.

He closed his eyes and cried out to God in his pain. When he opened them, he noticed a single blue flower blooming near the edge of the bench where he was sitting. He did not know how long the bloom had been growing through all the ice, but it moved him to tears. The little blue flower was the only living matter in all the ice. He told us God had placed it there just for him.

God has a way of doing that. A bird singing, a single cloud the size of a fist, the scent of a new born baby, or a flower growing through ice and snow in Alaska can get our attention and influence our hearts wherever we are. With our busy schedules, we often fail to take time to appreciate the wonders of God’s creation.

We all go through trials and get discouraged at times. We can get so busy doing His work we ignore Him in the process. God’s sweet voice is easy to overlook or push aside when life’s pressures push in on us. Sometimes we need to slow down, sit outside in a lawn chair, and breathe deeply as we consider the Creator who loves us so much, He uses His own creation to support and encourage us.

My Dear Wormwood,

I am pleased to see you successfully persuading your patient to become involved in this new investment strategy. Convincing him to increase his small investment ten-fold was brilliant. Everyone understands it is a risky business. However, the fool sees nothing but what he wants. Do not fail to remind him of the many things he can enjoy if he will just keep his eyes on his investments. Fill his mind with thoughts of success, wealth, and the honor he will receive from his friends and family when his ship comes in.

When the Enemy whispers doubts and warnings into his mind, highlight just how close he is to reaping the financial windfall he has been working for with such determination. Keep him surrounded by his materialist friends who speak often of what he wants. You are fortunate your patient lives in a time when everyone believes success is his right.

Your patient has had the Enemy’s false promises drummed into him by parents who deceived him from childhood. They believed if they kept him in Church, surrounded by others of like mind they would keep him from us. What fools. They did not realize that you, my dear nephew are by his side showing him how depressing life can be without the finer things. You work hard to keep his mind on what he does not have rather than what the Enemy wants him to see, the blessings of a spiritual life.

As for your proposal to seduce him to desire what goes against his morals, I recommend against it. He has fallen for the lie that he must commit to one woman. Your attempts to lure him into this direction are a dismal failure. If you continue to pursue this course, you will lose all your accomplishments. Avoid spreading his desires in too many directions. Concentrate on keeping him focused on economic prosperity.

It is my understanding that he is still in the habit of attending Church and reading the Enemy’s Letters. This would be a wise investment of your energy. Encourage him to schedule urgent meetings during the times when he is in danger of being under the Enemy’s power. Talk to him and scatter his concentration when he is in church. Draw his attention to his investments and peak his curiosity, making him wonder how well they are doing. It does not matter that he understands there can be no changes since he last checked. He will be distracted and unable to hear the Enemy’s messengers while he is in their presence.

If you cannot prevent his concentration upon the Enemy’s Letters, I suggest that you distort his understanding and cause him to look at them from his vantage point. The Letter to the Philippians can be read in a variety of ways. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me can be twisted to say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13).

John’s words can go from, “I pray that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers; to I pray that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers (3 Jn. 1:2).” It is just a matter of emphasis on the right words. If you are creative, you can convince him the Enemy’s greatest desire is for him to live a life of luxury above everything.

In closing, my dear Wormwood, I must urge you not to neglect your patient’s spouse. She has the most influence over him. You must convince her that success is her greatest friend. If you fail with her, or if she feels left out or becomes fearful of the changes in your patient, you might lose him to the Enemy. I commend you for your excellent work my nephew.

Your affectionate uncle

SCREWTAPE

I saw a homeless man today pushing his shopping cart full of junk. The cart contained everything he owned. His scraggly beard was as dirty as his matted, stringy hair. It was obvious he had not bathed in quite a while. The rags he wore hung loosely from his gaunt frame. What I remembered the most, however, was his eyes. They were deep, dark, empty eyes that had lost all hope. Adversity had overcome his ability to believe in his dreams.

Sometimes hope seems to hide in adversity’s shadow. Adversity wants to convince us that it can destroy us. It taunts us and tells us there’s no reason to try. It wants us to give up and accept our conditions.

A young couple enters marriage with grand hopes and dreams, anticipating the glorious future they will build together. They soon discover that adversity walks alongside their hope. He loses his job, she miscarries their first child, and they move in with their parents, in a house shrouded in conflict. The question, “Why” hangs in the air.

In the beginning, there is always hope. Christopher Columbus left Spain because he had hope. The Pilgrims experienced untold suffering just for the hope of freedom to worship their God. They spent two months on the Mayflower enduring taunting by the crew, sickness, storms, and death before finally landing at Plymouth Rock. They continued, however, and today we are a free nation.

The early American settlers traveled in wagon trains, thousands of miles across unfamiliar and dangerous terrain, just for the hope of a better life. Women buried their husbands along the wagon trail, yet they persevered and continued on their long journey west, their hope was their only comfort. Adversity was the constant companion of those heroes who struggled for a better way of life. Yet, hope was always close by, eager to nurture and strengthen their battered faith.

I once heard a pastor preach a message titled There is No Such Thing as Hope. His theory was that we must have faith. “Faith is to be sought after with everything in us. Hope is useless and unnecessary. It is faith that moves mountains,” he shouted, “not hope.” While it is true, faith is the drive that ultimately fuels our endeavors, hope is the spark that ignites faith’s flames. How can we remain assured that we will get our desires without the seed of hope from which to build?

Before every great work of art, before forming a nation, before building cathedrals, before bringing a new life into the world, there is hope. Hope is the root of every great enterprise. It cannot be, if there is no hope. Adversity challenges every endeavor, every dream, and plan. We invest our finances, our time, and our strength, commitment, and honor and adversity laughs aloud, calling us foolish. The lump of sorrow in our throat nearly chokes the life out of us as we lift up our head and ask, “Why?”

We wipe our tears and look across the horizon; we can see a cloud moving toward us. What can it be? How can we endure anything else? As the cloud grows larger, we can see the blue suit with the towering red “H” on its chest. The red cape of promise flaps as it moves closer. Hope has arrived. Adversity has to step aside while hope wraps its arms around us and soothes us with words of promise. Hope fuels our faith and we can go on once again.

Our dreams, desires, and promises are there for the taking. Adversity is there also, ready to destroy. Hope stands by, knowing that we will need it several times before we have achieved our dreams. For those who will allow it, hope fans the flames of our faith with the promise of a better tomorrow.