HOPE REMAINS
I was busy celebrating God’s goodness when the text came in.
“There’s a shooter at the high school. It's a nightmare here. Pray. Pray. Pray.”
And so it began again - wrestling with my faith, and frankly, I wasn’t up for another battle.
“Lord Jesus, please protect them, help them,” I prayed on my knees, only to rise when a sweet voice called to me from the next room asking to bake Christmas cookies.
As she broke the egg, I measured the flour, and together we stirred. I kept one finger on the recipe, knowing everything would turn out right if we followed it. Because somewhere deep in every human soul, we need this to be true.
But when the headlines scraped the bowl, I faced a sad reality.
This world was a mess, and so was my heart.
I once clenched a hope that scattered and blew away like dandelion wishes. It was pulled from the same earth I came from, the same dirt to which I will one day return. It fell short and grew up bitter, so I let it go.
Today, I cling to another Hope-one not rooted in this world, one that reaches beyond what can be seen.
But oh how my hands still tremble, like every child of God.
Yet, we can take comfort knowing that if we lose our grip in the struggle between what is and what should be, Jesus will still wrap around and hold us close. Surrendered in His arms, we are free to sob and gasp the familiar musky scent of a manger, a cross, a grave to remind us of His love.
Because the Son of God became the Son of Man, bent low where we could see His face, and lay small in a manger where we could hear His cry.
He hurt. He wept. He suffered. He died in sinless, sacrificial love to pour eternal Hope into our empty, broken hearts.
Then out of this earth’s darkest place, He rose to sit down at the right hand of the Father.
And His Light shines down to pierce this present darkness, to point us to what will one day be - to what was always meant to be.
No sin, no death, no sorrow, no pain.
Every last trace of earth’s dirt-stained tears will be wiped away by a holy nail-scarred hand.
The same loving hand that will never let us go.
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” Rev 21:4 niv
Please remember the heart-crushed families of Oxford, Michigan in your prayers today.