You wouldn't believe what I like to do.
I like to read the back of the book before I start a novel.
Aaack. Crazy. Unbelievable.
But why give your heart, or spend hours with something only to find it a disappointment.
I mean, honestly, read that novel only to find out the ending was a disappointment - how did that feel?
I think it's a divine part of our nature to want to know the ENDING.
God gives the ending of the story of human history in Revelation. Jesus said what his end would be like.
Why? Because of Hope. We want something to be complete, fulfilled...we want closure.
During this Holiday season, remember Hope.
Hope for something better, hope for something to come, hope for good things to come. That was God's intention when Jesus came into this world.
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Living in the mid-west, I've seen life differently than in California: birds aren't always around, the sunshine doesn't warm all year round.
Life doesn't exist that way, and God tells us that in Romans. Nature, God's creation tel
Nature gives us a glimpse of the HOPE of a new season when the snow melts and washes away our troubles, our pain, and our questions.
But the winter will pass, and the sun will come back. The deadness of life will spring once more into vibrancy and colors.
God didn't intend for life to be experiencing Winters constantly, and one day, there will be an eternal summer, an eternal cosmic summer - and heaven.
Words like Joy, Celebration, Fulfillment, Bliss will describe our ultimate Hope. Heaven is being with God forever.
Heaven's celebration isn't boring. We've all been at stodgy, Baptist like celebrations in the gym holding foam cups with punch and smiling at each other - and we think that's heaven. A Baptist wedding is our closest concept sometimes of it.
No wine? No dancing? Didn't we read Isaiah, where the 'aged wine, and feasting, and dancing' was described? What about the wedding supper? It's going to be parrrrrty!
I believe all those moments of difficulty only to see triumph come is a glimpse of our Hope.
All of our lives we get a taste, or a story of it. SuperBowls. Lance Armstrong's victory over cancer. The end of WW2. A rescue at sea. A child found alive. A love found.
This time of the season, what do you HOPE FOR?
I hope to see my mom young again, and happy with laughter again. I hope to meet Ronald Reagan without a mental illness. I hope to meet crowds of Dufur families and chlidren united happy and hugging. I hope to see Christopher Reeve run. I hope to meet the first King of China and ask where did he get the Abrahamic sacrifice ritual? I hope to see those who persecute and mock me while on earth in heaven and look into their eyes and see that God saved them; we'd hug and tear with the thought, "God is amazing isn't he?"
I hope to fly through the cosmos. I hope to do CC&C and a full season of FF with some buds.
Most of all, I hope to see God and spend time asking him questions...and watch him paint more sunsets with a wave, and spin planetary systems on the tip of his finger.
We have Hope.