Vol 4 No 27 - Hope

Mirriam-Webster defines hope as follows: "to cherish a desire with anticipation" and "to desire with expectation of obtainment."

I have been thinking a great deal about the word 'hope' over the past month, for I have experienced the sheer joy of a hopeful people (100+ kids making these facilities literally shake during Vacation Bible School) and the crushingly toxic environment of being around people who have not one positive thing they celebrate, not one moment of sheer joy or pleasure, for they appear to be focused purely on what is wrong, absolutely and without a doubt anticipating what will go wrong next.

Contrasting the two, I cannot help but remind myself, and, by way of this message, you, that of all the emotions of life that we have been given by God, hope has got to be central to our mindset.  I say this not in a pollyannish way, encouraging you to stick your head in the sand and ignore the realities of life.  No, I give it to you as a reminder that you will find highs and lows of life (pretty much every day), and without the hope of a better tomorrow (which we have been given through the promise of Christ's return in glory), we can literally have the life sucked out of us.

"...[N]or anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord."  Hold on to this - for I promise you that one day, a new heaven and a new earth are coming, and if you have your life grounded in the things of this world (both good and bad), at some point you will be left with nothing, for this world will be gone.

Our kids at VBS are learning about and experiencing the hope of life in Christ.  However, VBS will finish tomorrow night.  Let us all resolve to give them continual reminders of the hope of a better day by the way we conduct ourselves in thought, word, and deed.

See You Sunday!

Lamar

Vol 4 No 26 - Conviction

"For I am convinced," Paul writes in the eight chapter of Romans, beginning a thunderous defense of what he believes.  "For I am convinced that neither death, nor live, nor angles, nor rulers, nor things present, not things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord."

Over the past few days, I have thought a great deal about this passage of scripture, for I used it as the text for my homily at Mr. Ed Dilsaver's funeral yesterday.  Those of you who had the honor of knowing Ed know that he was a man of great convictions.  Reading, studying, and praying about these words, I saw once again the sheer beauty of Paul's defense of his beliefs a passion that I fear we might allow to slip more than we realize.

Paul's conviction of nothing being able to separate us from the love of God through Christ our Lord is not only a great statement of faith, but a proper frame by which to look at our lives.

If someone were to ask you to complete the sentence, "For I am convinced...", what would you say?  How does what you are convinced of affect your day-to-day life?  Does what you are convinced of have its root in the saving power of the grace of God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit?

See You Sunday!

Lamar

Vol 4 No 25 - What's Your Story?

Whenever I travel for leisure, as I did this past week to visit with our families, I take along 2 or 3 books for pleasure reading on airplanes or during downtime wherever we are staying.  My favorite genre is biographies, and as I was reading the stories of Satchel Paige and Bob Cousy this week, my mind kept going back to you.  These two athletic stars of the last century were giants of their times, but to my generation and beyond, they are mere names in history books.  I can grab any historical register for their respective sport and get their career accomplishments; to delve into who they are as men is quite a different story.

My mind kept going back to you because I wonder oftentimes what is the story that we are developing with the life we lead.  If an historian were to come along 50 years from now and catalog your life, what would emerge?

As men and women of the Christian faith, ours is a story that is part of a much bigger story.  Ours is a story that continues the story of God's creative and redemptive work in creation.  Through his grace and love, creation came into being, and all things will be reconciled to God when Christ comes again in glory.

Whether or not some historian or author comes along 50 years from now to catalog your life story or not, make no mistake about it - you are writing your story.  The imperative for us is to remember that our story needs to point not to what we do, but to what Christ does within and through us.

See You Sunday!

Lamar