Hopeless

This past week has been an emotional one. I've seen my wife weeping at the thought of Sherry Burgess finding her 2 year old son lifeless in their family swimming pool. I've seen my entire church family surround a lady that is very dear to us in prayer as she faced surgery this week to remove a 2 inch brain tumor the doctors recently found. I listened to the story of a friend as she told me how she was once in lockdown on a mental ward a few years ago and some of the struggles her family went through. And through all of this I've seen the barbaric, cold and painful world we live in.

How does one cope with life? Why does one cope with life? Where is there even an ember of hope that tells us to hold on? What is there to ground us to any prospect of a life worth living? Is it in our own strength, as the atheist would propose? Tell that to my friend that was locked up because she was painting pictures in her own blood. This woman is one of the strongest people I've ever known. She's courageous, independent, and is one of those people who can make things happen when she sets her mind to it. I respected and loved her before, I do so more even now. Her strength failed her. Her courage left and her Independence did her no good as she threw her body against a door with only a 4 inch window to look out of. If her strength failed, then we don't have a chance.

What about security in finances? Is that it? Right now our economy is spiraling downward into recession. Political heads try to fix the problem, but it's a band aid really. If it fixes it at all. Things will get better, then they'll get worse again, and so the circle goes on and on.

Can we find it in the leaders of government? 9/11 pretty much nixed that idea. As terrorism continues to grow and spread, how can we feel safe when our own government couldn't stop over 5,000 people from burning alive as mounds of concrete and steel crushed the breath out of their bodies. My sister and brother-in-law are in Kenya facing the threat of a civil war arising from government power plays. There is no security and hope for their 3 little girls in that government.

This week has been an emotional one. I have seen all these things and I have seen the beauty and glory of God through Christ this week. I have been reassured that the only sanity we have is in HIM! Hebrews says the gospel is an anchor for our souls. The psalms say that God is a refuge. It's not pie-in-the-sky religious nonsense. All the positive thinking in the world can't save you from the monstrosity that is this life. We are not safe from the consequences of sin in this world. We have only two options, to fall on the Cornerstone and be broken leaving all of our strength, money, and pseudo-hold on reality, or have the Cornerstone fall on us and be crushed and doomed. John Piper says that the reason we have suffering is so that Christ could suffer. That the reason we have pain is so Christ could feel pain. And that the reason we have death is so that Christ could die and be raised again to show His people that He has conquered these things. I pray that God's people would run to the refuge and not stand outside in the tornado thinking that they can do it on their own. I pray that we, like the deer, would pant for God as the enemy pursues us. That we would drink, lest we die.