“I hope gas prices fall.” “I hope we have a lot of snow this winter.” These are common ways we use the word hope when we look forward to something with expectation and desire; or when used as a person or thing in which expectations are centered: “The medicine was her last hope.” When differentiating something from certainty, hope is often used as “wishful thinking.” When we say, “I hope it happens,” we’re really saying “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m desiring that ‘such and such’ happens.” From the Greek, hope in the Bible is “the confident…
HOPE: Part 1 – The Blessings
Years ago scientists conducted an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two groups of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. Researchers left one set alone and discovered within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second group of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given rest breaks, but because they suddenly had hope! The rats somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat for just a little longer, someone would reach…
How to do less but accomplish more
American Christian evangelist Anne Graham Lotz (daughter of Billy Graham) recently posted an urgent call to prayer for our country. In her blog she wrote: “As you may know, my husband is in declining health. I am no longer traveling and speaking as much as I have for the last 26 years since I am staying home to care for him. As a result, I have had time to be quiet and listen more to the whispers of the Spirit. He has revealed things to me in the stillness that I’m not sure I would have heard in my former…
Lunar Communion
Forty-five years ago this summer, man landed on the moon. What the media didn’t tell us on that historic occasion was that the first food eaten, and the first liquid poured on the moon were the communion elements of bread and wine. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin chose to commemorate the awe and wonder of the moon landing in a way he found personally meaningful—by partaking of Holy Communion. He later wrote about the experience for Guideposts magazine saying: “. . . Neil would give the signal to step down the ladder onto the powdery surface of the moon. Now was the moment…
His Presence – Our Present
Do you remember the joy in your heart when you first realized—you knew that you knew—that you had eternal life? I do. My testimony is nothing dramatic. I have no great story of deliverance from a life of addiction, loss, or sorrow. Yet somehow God knew I would seek Him and believe. That I, at age fourteen, would have the humility of heart to realize that I needed something or someone greater than myself to make it through this life. I was a freshman in high school when one of my close friends shared a Bible verse with me that…
